Who can resist the name “love-in-a-mist?” We’re all looking for wonderful flowers to grow and admire, and nigella is certainly one to consider.
It’s easy to grow, a breeze to care for, and will self-seed and spread itself around for years to come. It’s charming, delicate, and a miniature show-stopper. If you want that classic, sweet cottage garden look, you should be growing love-in-a-mist.
Let’s talk about nigella and how it will enhance your flower garden.
What We’ll Discuss
What is Nigella?
Nigella (Nigella damascena) is an annual, short-lived flower that comes from the Ranunculaceae family, which also includes buttercups and many other common flowers.
It’s native to Southern Europe and grows in the wild around Damascus, where it derives its species name. The botanical genus name Nigella comes from “niger,” the Latin word for black, as the seeds are tiny, black spots that resemble cumin or black sesame seeds.
N. damascena is not the nigella that you get culinary seeds from. Nigella seeds for spice come from N. sativa, a close relative. The seeds of N. damascena are toxic, so don’t use them in your cooking.
Especially known for its amazing blue flowers surrounded by delicate fern-like foliage, nigella also comes in vivid pink, purple, and white. It’s also known as devil in the bush, but that’s not as common.
The common name comes from lacy, fuzzy-looking foliage that holds the brilliant flowers, making it appear as though they’re floating in a green mist.
7 Cultivars of Nigella to Add Vivid Color to Your Garden
Various shades of blue are the most common and well-known nigella hues, but experiment with other colors for variety. They are easily found online and in stores, and seeds are affordable.
You can always grab a pack of mixed colors for a song at Amazon.
Cambridge Blue
This is one of the many perfect cutting nigellas for flower arrangements. The double-blue flowers sit on long stems and are large, up to two inches across. They bloom most in early to late summer.
Persian Violet
If you love watching flowers bloom and change color over a short period of time, ‘Persian Violet’ will be perfect for you. The flower starts out white with blue edges, before maturing into a vivid purple.
Mulberry Rose
At 18 inches tall, this is a perfect love-in-a-mist for when you need a little more height. The flowers start out bright pink before settling into a delicate rose hue.
Try growing love-in-a-mist ‘Mulberry Rose’ for cutting flowers or something a bit bolder than your standard nigella.
Miss Jekyll Alba
‘Miss Jekyll Alba’ is so nice it has won the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit. It’s easy to see why. The large, double, white flowers have a moody blue center and grow on two-foot-tall stalks.
The bright green anthers that develop on arching stems out of the center of the flwoer offer even further contrast against the white petals.
Miss Jekyll
Another winner of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit, ‘Miss Jekyll’ is one often found in mixed seed packets. ‘Miss Jekyll’ comes in a variety of colors, including pink, rose, blue, and white.
If you’re interested in growing love-in-a-mist, ‘Miss Jekyll’ is a great place to start. With its color mix on 18-inch-tall stems, it makes an outsized statement with little fuss.
Cramer’s Plum
When you’re growing this love-in-a-mist in your garden, you’re making a statement. The plant is tall at up to 24 inches in height with huge, double white blossoms and plum purple seed pods that definitely resemble the fruit.
The dried pods are a classic choice for drying and arranging.
Moody Blues
I’m saving the best for last. This nigella has not one but many different hues of blue on double flowers. It’s also a tall one, with the flowers stretching up to 28 inches in height. It looks striking in the garden.
Growing Love-in-a-Mist By Seed
Nigella forms a long but delicate taproot, so it doesn’t like to be transferred. Plant from seed and allow it to self seed and sit back and watch it reappear season after season.
Stratification isn’t necessary, but if the seeds drop and overwinter, you often get better results.
Sow the seeds about two to three inches apart and lightly cover them with fine soil or press them into the soil surface. Love-in-a-mist seeds need light to germinate.
For a more informal look, broadcast the seeds into the garden and thin them out as necessary to around three to five inches apart, depending on the size of the mature plant.
Sowing is best done in early spring or when your soil can be worked and the weather is warm. Soil temperature should ideally be around 60ºF for optimal germination rate.
Bloom time for nigella can be anywhere between three to 12 weeks, so depending on the variety you’re growing, try successive planting for a continuous display.
Because nigella self-seeds easily, if you get it wrong one year, don’t let it go to seed. Then, plant new seeds and try again.
How to Save Nigella Seeds
Nigella forms big seed pods that contain many seeds. You can wait for the pod to dry on the plant, at which point they burst open, and the self-seeding begins.
If you want to save the seeds, you’ll need to intercept this process.
Remove the seed pod when it dries and turns brown. The pods are ready for harvest when you hear the seeds rattling around inside or you can see them in the open holes at the top of the pod. Store them in a paper bag in a cool, dry area until you’re ready to plant.
Crush and open over white paper so you can see the seeds clearly because although they are black, they are the size of grains of sand or a small sesame seed.
How to Care For Nigella
Nigella grows well in USDA Growing Zones 2-11. Some varieties are better suited to some locations, so check the seed pack or info card. On the whole, growing love-in-a-mist is possible anywhere so long as the growing season is long enough.
The ideal growing temperatures are between 65ºF and 73ºF for several months, though they can tolerate outside of this range.
Provide nigella with full sun because it needs plenty of light to flower. If you live in an area with sweltering days, some early morning and afternoon shade is okay.
Although nigella isn’t overly fussy regarding soil, provide the flowers with the best you can. Soil should be finely textured when sowing seed, but as long as it is free-draining and reasonably loamy, you will be fine.
Work in some well-rotted compost before planting to loosen up clay or add water retention to sandy soil. This also adds the nutrients that the plant needs to thrive.
Aim for a pH of around 6.0 to 7.0, but don’t sweat this too much.
When growing love-in-a-mist, give this plant consistently moist but not soggy soil. The best watering regime for nigella is to water deeply until the top two inches of soil are moist.
Keep the soil moist at all times. Water slowly so the moisture is absorbed well. Water at the soil level, but be careful of the delicate blooms and foliage.
For a short season of color, fertilize the soil at sowing. If you are successive planting, provide a feed of liquid fertilizer once a month. The amount will depend on what you use to fertilize, so follow the instructions on the label.
If you find that self-seeding nigella is starting to take over, allow the plant to germinate and grow a little bit in the spring, and then pull it out. They are easy to remove from the soil, but ensure you do this before the seed heads dry, or you will spread more seeds around.
Best Companion Plants for Nigella
You can certainly do well growing love-in-a-mist on its own, but it works so well with a few other species to create a charming garden. Consider these companions:
- Pansy
- Pentas
- Dwarf morning glory
- Poppy
- Cosmos
- Bishop’s Flower
- Cornflower
- Calendula
- Larkspur
Problems and Solutions for Growing Love-in-a-Mist
There aren’t many pests, diseases or issues that affect nigella, but here are a few things to look out for:
Whiteflies
Whiteflies are such an annoying little insect, but they can do quite a lot of damage to plants like nigella. If you see the common signs of a stunted and struggling plant, honeydew residue, and lots of little white flies, take action.
Use an insecticidal soap spray, neem oil, or an instant knockdown like pyrethrin.
Thrips
Thrips can cause nigella to become distorted or fail to produce blooms. If you suspect thrips because you see distorted flowers or foliage, black spots of excrement, yellowing of foliage, and little insects inside the flowers, you may have a thrip problem.
Use an insecticidal soap or neem oil.
Stunted Growth
Nigella can handle short dry spells, but anything too long, and it will stop growing. A sudden exposure to water may not be the best thing, so make sure you keep the soil moist and water when needed regularly.
Short Lived
Love-in-a-mist is a short-lived plants that needs to be reseeded regularly, either by you or by allowing the plants to seed. It also requires successive planting for blossoms throughout spring and summer.
Water and feed well, and deadhead to encourage as many blooms as possible, but don’t worry if they only bloom for a few weeks. Some cultivars only bloom for a few weeks, but some bloom for months.
Growing Love-in-a-Mist Tips
- If you don’t want the nigella to self-seed, deadhead the flower as soon as the petals fall off and before the seed pod forms.
- Allow the flower to fully open before picking for a display. Nigella generally don’t open once picked.
- Growing love-in-a-mist in pots is a great way to restrict their spread. The container needs to be deep to contain the taproot, so a tall one-gallon pot is sufficient. You also need to water and fertilize more frequently than for plants in the garden.
- To get more flowers from a nigella that isn’t blooming much, water more often and thin out to provide more space.
