Ladies of the Night

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Homes & Gardens

Saturday, 24 October 2009 05:55

By Simply XQuisite

I especially like entertaining in the early evening, just to take in the many compliments and the overall reaction of my guests when my Lady of the Night (Brunfelsia Americana) begins to mesmerize with its captivating aroma.

Everyone becomes totally distracted from whatever else they might have been doing, and the entire focus is on this unusual flower.

While landscaping our yard, my husband thought it would be perfect to place a couple of the plants immediately north-east of our house. 

The amazing feature and the main reason for its name is that mere seconds past sunset, this spectacular flower begins to exude a very sweet perfume.  Even more amazing is that in the daytime, even if you put your nose on top of it, there is not even a hint of aroma.  The smell completely disappears at the exact time the sun rises.

The Brunfelsia Americana is listed as a shrub, but is quite delicate. It is more commonly know as Lady of the Night and is native to the West Indies.  It mostly sports dark green leaves and grows straight upward with average branches.  It does not require any pruning and will normally grow without too much fuss or attention. 

The plant lives very long and can even weather dry soil conditions.  Its white flowers appear in cycles and turn a pale yellow as they age. The scent emanates at its peak during the most humid part of summer, and may be detected as far as 100 ft away.  The more humid the weather, the more blooms appear.

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The plant loves partial shade and protection from the wind, and because of this, it makes the perfect houseplant.  Instead of purchasing air fresheners, you can cut pieces of the flower from the stem after sunset, and place them inside to perfume your house.

Even if you cut them during the day, they will still bloom in the night and add their amazing fragrance to your life. Once the cut stem is placed in water, your house will be perfumed for practically a week.

 

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