Love in a Mist 'African Bride '

Nigella Papilosa

Once you see Nigella in bloom, you will always recognise it by its unique mist of airy bracts and foliage. It earns its common name of Love-in-a-Mist from the tangle of ferny, fennel like foliage that forms a mist around the flowers. The airy foliage makes a nice complement to broader leaved plants and is a great filler for use with cut flowers in a vase.

Nigella papillosa ‘African Bride’ is a most attractive variety. Deep rich purple stamens that highlight pure white blooms are followed by intriguing red seed pods. Also known as Nigella hispanica, the flowers grow to around 36in height. It is rather special as a cut flower, and lovely in summer borders too.

Nigella is ridiculously easy to grow. A hardy annual, it can be sow early in spring or sown directly where it is to flower. Sowing to flowering takes just three months. The flowers are well suited for traditional cottage garden settings or plant in a meadow where the soil is a little on the dry side and not too rich. Once the petals drop, the blossoms transform into little fairy lanterns and the seed pods can be dried for winter decorations indoors.

Nigella African Bride

$4.95

Quantity

Life Cyle: annual

Site: full sun

Height: 36”

Days to maturity: 65-85 daysSeed depth: 1/8"

Plant spacing: 9-12”

Approx seeds per packet: 50
Sow direct in late Winter to Spring or in Autumn
Seeds are best sown in short drills ¼ "deep directly where they are to flower. Sow thinly, once temperatures reach around 68°F. They prefer a sunny open site but will grow in most sites and soils.

Prepare the ground well and rake to a fine tilth before sowing. Mark the sowing areas with a ring of light coloured sand and label if sowing more than one annual in the same bed. Sow 1/8”deep in rows 12" apart.
Seeds germinate in approx 21 days. The seedlings will appear in rows approx 6 to 8 weeks after planting and can be told from nearby weed seedlings quite easily. Thin the seedlings out so they are finally 9" apart by early summer. Compost should be kept slightly moist, but not wet at all times.

An early autumn sowing can be made in sheltered areas for earlier flowers the following year. Planted it in the autumn it will send down a taproot and form a rosette of feathery leaves during the winter. As temperatures warm up in Spring, flower stalks shoot up. If it's a dry spring, give it water and it will grow large and erect. Without water it tends to flop over.
For cut flowers, cut the stems in the morning after the dew has dried. Cut when the flowers are fully open because buds will not open after cutting. Cut the stems with a sharp knife about 1" from the bottom of a main stem, at an angle of about 45 degrees as this provides a larger exposed area for the uptake of water. Remove all the lower foliage that would be submerged in water.
Fill sterilised a bucket with luke warm water and add warm sugar water. Place the flowers in the bucket and leave over night to condition before using in an arrangement.

To dry the pods, cut while the pods are still green and somewhat fresh. Tie the stems into a bundle and hand upside down to dry. You can cut the seed pods in half to display the interesting seed chamber structure.

Nigella African Bride

Details:

How to Grow :

Harvesting

Vase Life :

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Nigella African Bride

Details:

How to Grow :

Harvesting

Vase Life :