Four o'Clocks:With few needs and flowers that open in the late afternoon, this old-fashioned favorite suits a busy lifestyle

摘要

Four o'clocks (Mirabilis jalapa) are easy joy. Last summer, I saw them bursting out at the edge of a bro-ken-up blacktop alley here in Little Rock. I stopped to snap a photo and was chased away by two Rottweilers chained in the yard beyond. Despite the rambunctious dogs, those psychedelic magenta flowers kept screaming out fragrance into the turgid air of a Little Rock summer afternoon.