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Re: [SHADEGARDENS] Nicotiana alata

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Cidjohnson [SMTP:Cidjohnson@AOL.COM]
> Sent: Thursday, January 22, 1998 9:19 AM
> To:   shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
> Subject:      [SHADEGARDENS] Nicotiana alata
>
> Hi all,
>
> I'm looking for advice and/or your experiences growing Nicotiana alata
> (maybe
> N.sylvestris too).  I've heard it seeds itself around.  I think it was
> Barbara
> Damrosch from Maine who said this on her show Gardening Naturally.  I
> think
> she is in zone 5.  I'm in zone 4a...will it seed itself here too?
>
> Here's why I ask:  I want it's fragrance and white flowers in my
> gardens.  And
> I think it takes part shade.  Last spring I couldn't find it in the
> local
> nurseries (maybe didn't look hard enough) so I sent for some.  By the
> time it
> arrived and I planted it, it was sometime in June. They sprouted and
> then
> mostly just sat there doing little the rest of the summer.  Last fall
> I
> brought them in and put them under lights, hoping I could at least
> have
> flowers during the winter.  About 2 weeks ago, the first one started
> flowering, finally, beautiful, (though not as fragrant as I had hoped
> for).
> The rest will soon flower too.  I want to have these flowers just pop
> up in my
> gardens by themselves.  Is it possible?  Can I collect the seeds from
> my
> indoor plants and sprinkle them outside now?  Maybe they are just too
> slow to
> mature so it won't work here. The average last frost date here is May
> 15...
> (But if it works in Maine....)
>
> Enough rambling, anyone got any ideas, experiences?
>
> Thanks,
> Cindy Johnson
> White Bear Lake, MN
> zone 4a
>
If you can collect enough seeds, you might want to sow seeds "now"
indoors under lights in order to get these to bloom during our short
summers.  Then, sprinkle some outside, too, to see if they CAN self sow
here.  Maybe the Maine gardener is on the coast, the difference is
signficant, they warm up lots earlier than us.  I haven't had good luck
with Nicotiana flowering unless I have started seeds indoors, and rather
early, like no later than the end of February.  I have not had any self
seed that I am aware of, although I do plant plants in mostly the same
place every year, so how would I know?  Keep me posted!
Diane
Eden Prairie, MN
zone 4a
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