Growing Nigella Plants - How To Grow Nigella Love In A Mist Plant

Blue Nigella Love In A Mist Plants
(Image credit: eag1e)

Growing Nigella in the garden, also known as love in a mist plant (Nigella damascena), offers an interesting, peek-a-boo flower to be glimpsed through showy bracts. Care of love in a mistflower is easy, and its interesting blooms well worth the effort. Learn more about how to grow Nigella love in a mist so you can enjoy this unusual flower in your garden.

Nigella Plant Info

If you're not familiar with the love in a mist plant, you may wonder exactly what it is. Flowers of growing Nigella are surrounded by a series of bracts. These are supported by a thread-like leaf structure, known as a ruff, on the cultivar love in a mist plant. This gives the appearance of the flowers being surrounded by a mist, hence the romantic name. Double flowers appear to peek through the mist in colors of blue, pink, and white. Love in a mist plant reaches 15 to 24 inches (28-61 cm.) in height and up to a foot (31 cm.) in width when adequate room is left in the garden. Growing Nigella may be used in combination with other annuals in a mixed border or as part of an attractive container display.

How to Grow Nigella Love in a Mist

Learning how to grow Nigella love in a mist is easy. This hardy annual blooms early in spring if planted the previous fall. Simply broadcast seeds into a well-draining, sunny area of the garden. Nigella plant info says this specimen will grow in a variety of soil types, but prefers a rich, fertile soil. Seeds need not be covered. Nigella plant info also recommends succession planting of the love in a mist plant, as flowering time is short for each plant. When flowers fade, interesting striped seed pods with "horns" appear on the cultivar Nigella damascena. These seed pods may be used fresh or dried as a decorative element in dried arrangements.

Care of Love in a Mist Flower

Care of love in a mistflower is simple and standard: water during dry times, feed regularly, and deadhead spent blooms to encourage the growth of more flowers or collect seeds from dried seedpods. Grow the love in a mist plant to add a little romance to your garden.

Becca Badgett
Writer

Becca Badgett was a regular contributor to Gardening Know How for ten years. Co-author of the book How to Grow an EMERGENCY Garden, Becca specializes in succulent and cactus gardening.