by Lindsay Bond Totten
Scripps Howard News Service
Dusk soothes the garden's ruffled feathers, as if apologizing for the harsh glare of late afternoon. Foliage blends and softens around the edges, dark colors recede, and weeds seem to disappear. It's a fine time to settle into a comfortable chair on the patio with a glass of cabernet.
On cue, the flowering tobacco planted next to the porch perks up its blossoms and clears its throat, making last-minute preparations for the evening's performance. Its song is one of intoxicating fragrance, its scent so delicious it seems to surround you.
WHAT?!! You forgot to plant the nicotiana this spring?! Grandma would be so disappointed, her summer garden never without it. Well, it's too late to plant it now, but do remember to sow seeds next year. Nicotiana is truly one of August's highlights, greatly enhancing a gardener's enjoyment of those sultry August evenings.
The flowering tobacco in Grandma's garden was most likely the statuesque Nicotiana sylvestris, also called woodland tobacco. Her mother would likely have planted it during the moon garden craze of the late 19th century, when ladies strolled primarily in the evening to avoid the harsh rays of the sun that might ruin their complexions.
A pinch of seeds, saved from last year's plants and dropped directly into the soil following the last frost, would have sprouted plenty of seedlings for this year's flower garden. It didn't take many, Grandma knew. A single seed, no larger than a speck of dust would grow into a bold five-foot stalk with white trumpet-shaped blooms by August. The mound of large, fuzzy leaves at its base might reach three feet across.
Seeds started indoors could be perfuming the garden a whole month sooner, but she seldom bothered, for it wasn't until August, when the evening air was heavy and calm that the sweetly scented blossoms were fully appreciated.
As its name implies, woodland tobacco thrives in light shade, though it accepts full sun as well. Huge leaves lend an almost tropical look to beds and borders.
Grandma probably didn't have to struggle as hard with aphids on Nicotiana sylvestris as we do today. If they did appear back then, an application of nicotine dust--how's that for irony?--would have dispatched them. Insecticidal soap mixed with a little Pyrethrum is a safer choice today. It'll do a quick number or an aphid infestation. Just be sure to catch it early, before the insects build up.
Gardeners are more likely to find seeds of jasmine tobacco (Nicotiana alata , sometimes listed as Nicotiana x sanderae) in seed catalogs today, as a trend for shorter bedding plants continues. Unfortunately, as new varieties get stockier and colors intensify with each hybrid cross, fragrance often diminishes.
So, if you're growing flowering tobacco anticipating its sweet summertime perfume, avoid the super dwarf varieties such as 'Avalon' (just 8 to 12 inches high) and 'Domino' (20 to 12 inches) and go for intermediate hybrids like 'Fragrant Cloud', 'Grandiflora' or 'Sensation'.
At 24 to 36 inches, they're a little taller than some gardeners would like, but the stretch enables them to project their rich powerful scent above the other flowers, there to be cradled gently on the night air.
Try growing seedlings of Nicotiana alata in small drifts, planted closely together so stems help hold each other up. They'll also be easier to stake. Scatter clusters throughout the garden next to paths or benches so their fragrance can be savored.
There are several other species of nicotiana, though none as decorative or as fragrant as those already mentioned. English gardeners are fond of Nicotiana langsdorffii , a tall variety with green blooms that resemble miniature hoopskirts. Tree tobacco (Nicotiana glauca) is a behemoth of an annual (to 10 feet high), occasionally grown for its foliage effect. Neither one is particularly fragrant.
Of course, all nicotianas are related to true tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), which is grown on an enormous scale, but not for its garden qualities.
If flowering tobaccos have one flaw--though cottage gardeners may consider it a "plus"--it's that they seed themselves promiscuously all over the garden. Seedlings are shallow-rooted and easy to transplant or to cull, but they're prolific, so be warned.
The solution is to scatter a few seeds where you want them, thin the seedlings mercilessly, and snip spent flower stems before the seed has a change to ripen.
Check local greenhouses and garden centers for nicotiana transplants in spring. Ask for special varieties by name (to be correct, pronounce it Nik-o-shee-ANN-ah, not Nik-o-TIN-ee-ah), to make sure you get one of the fragrant types. Or send for seeds from one of the mail order seed companies listed below.
(Lindsay Bond Totten, a horticulturist, writes about gardening for Scripps Howard News Service.)
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