My father loved to find seeds of something new and unusual to trade with his gardening buddies, but he never had any Datura seeds. He traded yellow-fleshed watermelons, bushel gourds and the other kind of moonflowers (we called them moonvines), but always kept some moonvine seeds for himself. I remember the seeds, fat and ivory-colored, easy for small hands to poke into the ground. We planted them when we set out the tomatoes, after the ground had warmed. Since they are members of the morning glory and sweet potato tribe, they don't like cold soil. Now that I live in the North, I start them early indoors so that there will be some blooms before frost. They need a long, hot growing season to do their best. Once they do reach blooming maturity, you should plan a party with your moonflower vine as the star of the show. The buds that will bloom this day look like tightly rolled umbrellas nearly 3 inches long. The veins are green, but the bud will have whitened between the veins. Gather your guests around the vine as dusk begins to fall. Someone will notice when the tip of the first bud opens, and then everyone will almost hold their breath as the umbrella begins to unfurl. Slowly, it will open wide while you watch. In two to three minutes it becomes a satiny white moon six inches across. When everyone begins to breathe again, invite them to sniff and enjoy the fragrance too. A well-grown vine with a heavy crop of buds can keep everyone oohing and aahing for up to thirty minutes watching first one and then another until all the mature buds have opened. By then, it should be nearly dark and the Phoenix moths may come out to feed on the glistening white flowers'. They are often mistaken for hummingbirds, but hummers do not feed in the evening. The moths dart and hover in the same way, and their feeding part, the proboscis, looks like a bird's beak when extended to reach into the flower for its nectar. If that performance won't start conversation, you'd better check to see if your guests held their breath too long. Though the flowers are short-lived like their cousins the morning glories, mine are often still lovely in the early afternoon, when the party paraphernalia has been cleaned and put away and my guests reactions just a memory. Invite these wonderful antique annuals into your garden next year to be available when "Moonlight Madness" strikes.
