Some plants have something very special about them: They do not open their flowers during the day, but only in the evening. This phenomenon serves to attract nocturnal insects for pollination. Most often, the nocturnal flowering is accompanied by the spraying of scents to guide insects. Many nocturnal plants thrive in the garden or on the balcony, but some can also surprise as houseplants. It is important not to put plants that bloom at night in the bedroom, as the intense smells can disturb sleep. We present the most beautiful night bloomers for indoors and outdoors, but it should be noted that these shine at night and can look rather inconspicuous with closed flowers during the day.
Moon Morning Glory (Ipomoea alba)
The moon morning glory comes from tropical America and belongs to the morning glory family. It is a climbing and climbing plant that is often cultivated in tubs in the garden, but it also finds its place as a houseplant, because temperatures must not fall below 15 degrees for it and the plant has to overwinter in the warm. The plant is particularly beautiful because it opens its white flowers at night, which resemble small moons. An intense scent emanates from the flowers at night to attract nocturnal butterflies. The climbing plant can grow up to 6 meters high, but it needs a trellis for this.
Evening primrose (Oenothera biennis)
The common evening primrose belongs to the evening primrose family and is a biennial plant that can grow as a decorative or medicinal plant in the garden or on the balcony. It is warm enough outside for the plant, which originates from North America, from mid-May, it needs a sunny and warm location. The flowering period of the evening primrose is from June to September. The special thing is that the bright yellow flowers only open in the evening and this process happens very quickly. A fragrance is only sprayed when it is fully opened. They pollinate themselves with the help of butterflies. The next day the flowers have faded to orange. The herbaceous plant can grow up to 2 meters high. Since the roots are very deep, you need a large plant pot for the balcony. The common evening primrose should be overwintered frost-free.
Queen of the Night ( Selenicereus grandiflorus)
The Queen of the Night belongs to the cactus family and is particularly spectacular due to its white-yellow flowers. Only after several years does the plant begin to flower, each flower opens only one night a year and is gone by morning. In the period from June to August she does this because she wants to attract tropical bats in her South American homeland at night. Here it is kept as an easy-care houseplant that needs temperatures below 15 degrees and sufficient light all year round. If it has a climbing aid, it grows upright, otherwise it is creeping.
Daylily (Hemerocallis)
Daylilies belong to the Asphodel family and come from East Asia. Some species of daylily, namely the lemon daylily (Hemerocallis citrina) and the tall daylily (Hemerocallis altissima), are nocturnal. In the flowering period from mid-July to mid-August, the plant opens its yellow flowers in the evening. The daylily then blooms all night until the flowers wither the following day. Daylilies are nocturnal because they want to attract their pollinators, the moths. The plant can grow up to 1.5 meters high.
