Flowering Tobacco for Annual Flower Gardens
Types of Nicotiana for Summer Growing in Many Themed Gardens
Apr 23, 2009
Nicotiana is also called flowering tobacco. It is an easy-to-grow summer blooming plant that is appropriate for many themed gardens such as butterfly or hummingbird, scented, and cutting flowers. With this variety of sizes and colors, it should be simple to find a spot for at least one.
Tall Fragrant Nicotiana Species
Nicotiana species are very fragrant, especially at night, and grow up to five feet tall. The plant’s habit is open, leaves are primarily at the base and the flowers create a nodding motion in a garden. However, several species are notable for gardens because of particular characteristics.
Niotiana langsdorffii is a plant requiring garden space to spread 18 inches. The tubular green flowers and bluish colored anthers hang from thin stems. The large leaves grow up to 10 inches long.
Nicotiana sylvestris is native to a woodland habitat. This dramatic plant has thick stems with very long tubes extending the flower outward. The white star-shaped flowers are sometimes tinged with pink or purple. The flowers close up in sun but will open in early evening and have a sweet scent making it a perfect choice planted along a sidewalk.
Nicotiana alata is a popular species that grows 3’ – 4 ‘ tall and often used for hybridizing many well-known varieties. Some older cultivars of this species lost the strong scent of the species but became valued for the more compact size.
Variety of Nicotiana Plants
Newer hybrids have maintained a pleasant fragrance but still are short plants with small flowers and now are self-cleaning. Nicotiana alata ‘Saratoga’ grows only 10” – 12 “ tall, flowers early and has a light scent. It blooms in many colors.
Easy to grow Nicotiana mutabilis ‘Marshmallow’ is 30” tall. While the plant is shorter than the species, it retains fragrant star-shaped blooms and the ability to range in shades from rose to white as the flowers mature.
Nicotiana x sanderae ‘Babybella’ has very red flowers and granny-smith green colored foliage. The plant is more compact than the popular Nicotiana ‘Tinkerbell.’
Nicotiana knightiana ‘Green Tears’ has smaller teardrop shaped flowers and rounded foliage. The pale two-tone green color is accentuated by the faint dusty appearance. It has tall delicate stems growing a plant that grows up to 5’ tall
Green flowering cultivars such as Nicotiana ‘Lime Green’ are currently popular for large containers or garden borders. Other easy to grow plants like salvia in purple and blue colors nicely compliment the color while the plants tolerate similar growing conditions.
Nicotiana is a tender perennial more often grown as an annual plant with more than 60 species. It is part of the Solanaceae family that includes smoking tobacco and its closest relative the petunia. Nicotiana is native to countries in South America.
Permission received for all photos used in this article.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
