Firefly Petunia

[secuono]

Anyone have them?

I made the mistake of showing DH awhile ago. Look what showed up today.
Such an expensive temporary plant...

Needless to say, I'll be trying to keep them alive indoors and get seeds. Raining, so no planted or glow pics yet. They're in the two 8ft planters and in the latest 4 planters by the screened fence.

 

[Branching Out]

Bio-luminescent petunias? Who knew?? And spendy too. Wow. Please let us know how it goes growing them.

 

[flowerbug]

is DH related to @Carol Dee ?!

 

[secuono]

Hard to see with the white, but wasn't my idea to put them anywhere.

Look at all that "soil". Mini mulch is more like it....

This one had 3 plants, so no Petunia added.

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

I had Firefly petunias a couple years ago. They are an interesting plant and read about this process years ago and finally they are available . This special variety uses genes from bioluminescent mushrooms (like Neonothopanus nambi). ‍ These mushrooms produce light through a natural process involving an enzyme (luciferase) and compound (luciferin).

The petunias do have a short time to glow at night seeing the inflorescence is only after dark. They must be is a bright sun light area during the day and extremely very dark area at night to see the inflorescence for a few minutes. They don’t glow any longer than a few minutes. The new buds are usually an important factor with new growth , the old blooms loose their inflorescence quickly obviously as the flower fades. The grandkids thought they were magical which of course for me was well worth the price.

Enjoy they are a unique product and a different type of fun for unusual garden flowers.