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How to Plant and Grow Nigella (Love-in-a-Mist)

Nigella damascena, love-in-a-mist, or devil in the bush, is an annual garden flowering plant, belonging to the buttercup family Ranunculaceae.
Photo Credit
LifeisticAC/Shutterstock
Botanical Name
Nigella damascena
Plant Type
Flowers
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Bloom Time
Spring
Flower Color
Blue
Pink
Purple
White
Hardiness Zone
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

Love in a Mist: The Flower with a Flair for Drama

Carol Connare
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With a name like Love-in-a-Mist, how could you not be intrigued? Nigella is a dainty annual garden superstar: easy to grow, eye-catching in bouquets, and charmingly old-fashioned. Whether you know it as fennel-flower, bishop’s-wort, or simply Nigella, this cool-weather bloomer brings lacy foliage and delicate color to beds and containers alike. Ready to fall in love? Here’s everything you need to know about planting, growing, and caring for Nigella.

About the Nigella Flower

Nigella damascena is an easy-to-grow annual best known for its lacy foliage; jewel-like blue, pink, lavender, and white flowers on 1-1/2- to 2-foot-tall stems; and uncommonly striped and spiny seed capsules. A cool-weather annual plant hardy in Zones 2 to 11, Nigella, is suitable for in-ground and container planting.

Both the flowers and seedpods, fresh or dried, make eye-catching additions to bouquets and arrangements. See more flowers that make great additions to cutting gardens.

Nigella is a member of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) and a cousin to the delphinium. 

Its genus name comes from the Latin word niger, meaning “black”—a reference to the color of its seeds. The plant’s species name refers to Damascus, Syria, where the plant grows in the wild.

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Planting

Nigella (Love-in-a-mist) grows easily from seed in the ground or soil. Seeds can be started indoors 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost, but this is not recommended, as nigella generally dislikes being transplanted.

For best results, direct-sow in full sun in spring as soon as the soil can be worked (some growers recommend when the soil reaches 60°F). Average, well-draining soil is suitable. Germination occurs in 2 to 3 weeks. Nigella is one of our favorite self-seeding flowers!

Provide consistent moisture. Learn how to properly water your flowers for healthy growth.

Thin seedlings so that they are up to 8 to 10 inches apart. Too-close plants will become tall and spindly as they reach for sunlight.

Growing

Fertilizer is not necessary. Excessive nitrogen can cause spindly plants, as can excessive watering and/or standing water.

Deadheading will prolong the bloom period but eliminate the seedpods. Nigella will self-seed. To prevent this, remove the seed heads before they mature.

Growers’ only disappointment may be that Nigella is short-lived: Once established, it will flower for several weeks beginning in late spring. However, in moderate climates (65° to 70°F), successive sowings (every 3 to 4 weeks until midsummer) will keep plants and flowers coming well into the fall. (Note that high heat may cause plants to wilt.) 

love-in-a-mist flower and seeds in the garden
Love-in-a-mist flowers, seed pods, and seeds.
Photo: Martina Unbehauen

Types

  • Nigella ‘Delft Blue’: named for Dutch Delft blue pottery; flowers have blue splashes on white petals and deep-purple centers; 18 to 24 inches tall.
  • N. ‘Miss Jekyll’: soft blue, semi-double flowers; 12 to 18 inches tall.
  • N. ‘Miss Jekyll Alba’: pure white, semi-double flowers; 12 to 18 inches tall.
  • N. ‘Mulberry Rose’: deep pink flowers; 18 to 24 inches tall.
  • N. ‘Persian Jewels’ series: double flowers in shades of lavender, light blue, mauve, purple, rose, and white; 18 inches tall.

Harvesting

At the end of the season, dry the seedpods: Cut them while green and fresh. Bunch the stems with string or a twist-tie and hang them upside down in a cool, dry, dark location for several weeks. Learn more about how to save flower seeds for next year.

Susan Mahr of the University of Wisconsin suggests, “Both the flowers and the decorative green and burgundy seed pods can be used in fresh or dried floral arrangements.”

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Wit and Wisdom

  • Nigella damascena bears many names. One is Katharine’s flower, after the saint who suffered martyrdom on a wheel, which is a reference to the way in which the plant’s flower parts spread like the spokes of a wheel. A few of its other names include devil-in-a-bush (a reference to its seedpods), fennel-flower (a reference to its foliage), bishop’s-wort, old man’s beard, and kiss-me-twice-before-I-rise.
  • Do not confuse N. damascena with its cousin N. sativa, whose seeds produce edible black cumin.
Flowers
About The Author

Carol Connare

As the 14th Editor-in-Chief of The Old Farmer’s Almanac, Carol Connare works with writers and other editors to develop “new, useful, and entertaining matter” for the annual Almanac as well as books, calendars, and other publications. Read More from Carol Connare
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