Patience

A few years ago, I was quite enamored with a flowering plant along a sidewalk in Ocean Grove, New Jersey.  Why did I notice it at night and not during the day?  I began to realize that it bloomed only at night.  Big white flowers glowed in the moonlight and were gone the next day.

Last year I found a moonflower plant at a nearby nursery.  I planted it at our mailbox and waited and waited wondering if it would ever bloom.  It did--but it took until mid-August.

This year I was unable to find any potted plants so I started seeds.  Only a few germinated.  I carefully took one little plant along on our vacation in May and nurtured it.

I planted it again at the mailbox and waited and waited--this time until mid-September!  The first few blooms were hidden among the heavy foliage but I have cut some of that back and there they are!   Maybe three or four big white flowers bloom each night and last until the early morning when they wither and die and fall off the vine. 

If any neighbors are looking, they might see me walking out in my pajamas last thing at night or first thing in the morning--just to take one more look.