Four O'Clocks - an Heirloom Flower with a colorful past

The four o'clock flower (Mirabilis jalapa) has been in the Shinn Park gardens for years. Perhaps the Shinn family also grew this common garden flower. It has been a favorite garden flower for many years in the US and in Europe.

Butterflies, hummingbirds, and sphinx moths like this tubular flower.

The flower is native to tropical South America. Its other name is "Marvel of Peru." It was discovered in 1525 or 1540. What was its path from South America to Europe and then to the US? Thomas Jefferson said at Monticello in 1767 before we were a country, "Mirabilis just opened, very clever." 

"The flowers usually open from late afternoon or at dusk (namely between 4 and 8 o'clock), giving rise to one of its common names. The flowers then produce a strong, sweet fragrance throughout the night, then close in the morning. New flowers open the following day. It arrived in Europe in 1525. Today, it is common in many tropical regions and is also valued in Europe as a (not hardy) ornamental plant. It is the children's state flower of Connecticut under the name of Michaela Petit's Four O'Clocks. Wiki

You can see the seedling leaves from UW.