--September 1996
Not long ago it was pointed out in these pages that it was Jean Nicot who lent his name to the strange, intoxicating plant which later became known as plain tobacco. Poor man, to be associated with nicotine and all we know as a frustrating, dirty, addictive substance.
Bad as that may be, let us focus upon Nicotiana (Solanaceae), also called Flowering Tobacco. We have seen it endlessly in market-packs at all the mega-hardware stores--Home Depot, Lowes--and at roadside stands in the spring, along with common Impatiens and the other familiars.
Probably the reason it is so common is that it requires little effort in planting. Just drop some of the microscopic seeds on
some moist soil and wait. No need to cover and pack them down. I started seeds indoors in March, microscopic things
which practically require a magnifying glass. The seeds, compared to the towering plants, are another of nature's practical
jokes, I guess.
The Nicki variety, only a foot tall, is very widely grown. And the white-flowered ones are a striking contrast in any flower bed. Nicki comes in other colors, too--lime-green, pink, a dull red; but there are admittedly prettier pink or red annuals. White Nicki is best, because it blends in well with other things, yet its shape and its trumpet flowers attract the eye.
There is an overlooked hybrid Nicotiana called "Havana Appleblossom," which won the Fleuroselect Gold Medal, whatever that is. The flowers really do look like apple blossoms, white with a pink underside.
But you have guessed that this is not about the ordinary varieties, even though they have their charms. And they do come in several colors, so they can be selected to fit in where other annuals might not.
Best of all the Nicotianas, though, and this is what I have been leading to, is the four-foot Nicotiana sylvestris, sometimes called "Peace Pipe." This plant looks like a regular tobacco plant, with wide pale-green leaves six inches wide and reaching a height of three feet, but then the trunk continues another twelves inches and flowers in a cascade of three-inch pendant white trumpets.
This year I am growing a sylvestris variety offered by Cook's Garden called "Only the Lonely" and have been more than pleased with the effect these flowers have had, growing above my daylilies in the flower bed closest to the street, where everybody can see them. They are counterpointed by several white Nickis, too. The combination is really rather astonishing.
Nicotiana is also known for its jasmine-like fragrance, always a plus in the garden. And yet another benefit is that Nicotiana are self-seeding. Several Nickis have made their appearance in other beds I composted with last year's yard waste. They can even reseed the same season so that, as the old ones fade, new ones spring up beside them.
My sylvestrises are staked now, of course, against any violent storms. (I didn't get to my sunflowers in time. Oh, well.)
Anyway, if we can set aside our prejudice about the noxious weed tobacco (Nicotiana leaves should not be eaten), we can still have the rewards of a noteworthy, even stately, flower.
--Peter Van Egmond, MG
Go to Next Page
Return to Garden Adviser's Bench Index Page
Master Gardener Home Page