Timely Wildscaping: A Four O'clock Scholar

Four o'clocks always bring back memories of Kentucky to me - of being a little girl and running to see if it was time to wash for dinner or if I could play a bit longer. Once most of the hot pink four o'clock flowers on the bush opened, it would be time to wash up. It was easy to lose a watch in the backyard - but hard to lose the bright, beautiful four o'clocks.

As a native American plant, it's a good choice to add to any wildscaped area you're planning. These wonderfully fragrant, old-fashioned time-telling plants are found in the wild from Colorado to Mexico and west to California. Like most southwest native plants, they're sturdy, do well in bad soil, and are fairly drought resistant. Because they're good late afternoon nectar providers, they're a recommended choice for hummingbird or butterfly gardens, when their bright flowers of bright pink, purple, red, white, yellow attract hawk moths and humming birds - and curious children who want to know if it's time for dinner yet!

If you're wildscaping or planning for large tracts of land where wildfire is a problem (parts of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California have this problem), then four o'clocks should definitely be seeded on your land, according to Curtis Smith of New Mexico State University. Curtis recommends four o'clocks as fire-retarding plants that slow the spread of range fires and reduce the fire risk to homes. Unfortunately, insurance companies don't count them as fire prevention measures - but if you've ever had a wildfire near your home, it would be worth $30 to wildscape fire-retardant plants into your property. If you want to try this type of wildscaping, check with your state agriculture department to see what varieties are native to your area. A cultivar is fine for a home yard usage, but you'll want something tougher for sowing in larger areas. In this case, it's best to stick with the true natives of your area.

In the wild, grazing cattle have caused problems for native four o'clocks. MacFarlane's four o'clock was put on the endangered species list in 1979 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and efforts were started to identify other areas where the plant could be found and seed could be harvested for propagation. Thanks to determined efforts, this plant has been upgraded from endangered to threatened.

Four o'clocks come in both annual (generally cultivar) and perennial (generally wild) types. My annuals always reseeded themselves each fall, making them a perfect plant for a very busy homeowner! They're relatively pest-and-disease free, though here in Dallas there seems to be a set of marauding caterpillars that find my plants awfully tasty!

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