| Description | Love-In-A-Mist (Nigella damascena) is an heirloom annual with delicate, finely divided leaves, unique flowers, and decorative seedpods. The flowers appear to hover amidst the mist of feathery foliage. |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | (ni-JEL-a)(da-ma-SEE-na) |
| Plant Type | All Plants, Annuals |
| Sunlight | full to part sun |
| Moisture | average |
| Soil & Site | average |
| Flowers | solitary, blue, and white, surrounded at the base by a finely cut involucre of bracts, can be used as cut flowers |
| Fruit | forms an ornamental seed pod |
| Leaves | dark green, pinnately divided many times into thin segments, a feathery look, multifid, dissected |
| Dimensions | 1-2 feet in height, best planted in groups or massed together |
| Maintenance | if you let the seed heads develop they will readily reseed |
| Propagation | Easily raised from seed either in situ or started indoors. The second and third, and.... generations of plants from the reseeding were fuller with more blossoms than the original plants I started indoors. |
| Native Site | Native to Southern Europe and North Africa |
| Cultivar Origin | Said to be introduced from Damascus in 1570. |
| Misc Facts | In the past, people would mix the seeds of the Nigella plant with vinegar and apply them to their freckles as a remedy. The name Nigella comes from the Latin word "niger" which means black, due to the plant's deep black seeds. The species name "damascene" also refers to the plant's origin in Damascus. |
| Author's Notes | My plants only bloom once vigorously and then produce only a few flowers afterward. Despite not having planted these plants in my garden for over eight years, I still find one or two popping up in my gardens. |
| Notes & Reference | #40-Herbaceous Ornamental Plants (Steven Stills), #28-Cottage Garden Annuals (Clive Lane), #270-Gardenia (www.gardenia.net), #272-Wisconsin Horticulture Extention |
Cart
