Plant · P-631

Love In A Mist

Nigella damascena

Love In A Mist is grown as much for its seed pods as for its flowers - blue or white blooms wrapped in ferny bracts give way to inflated, striped pods that hold their shape and colour when dried, making them a favourite in arrangements. The ripe seed has a nutmeg flavour and is used as a condiment - though despite looking almost identical, it is not the black cumin of the spice trade, which comes from a different, related plant. It is a cool-season annual that shrugs off frost but sulks in hot weather, blooming for only a month or two before going to pod, and self-sows so readily that a bed keeps coming back on its own once established. It resents having its roots disturbed, so it is sown directly where it will grow rather than started in trays and transplanted.