ABC Wednesday

The Letter is N

The flower is Nicotiana

 

A truly elegant flower, and intensely fragrant

 

This particular species is called 'Only the Lonely'

and it is said it is the tallest and most graceful of all the nicotiana plants

available, growing to four feet with six inch long candelabra-like sprays of

sweetly scented tubular white flowers.

 

The fragrance is released at dusk and continues through the night,

attracting all those fabulous humming bird moths, hawk moths and other species of moths with

long tongues and a yearning for sweet nicotiana liquor.

 

A genus of the family (Solanaceae), indigenous to the Americas, Australia,

south west Africa and the South Pacific

 



Several species of Nicoliana are grown as ornamental plants, including the

 Domino series and 'Lime Green', but in my opinion

nothing compares with a clutch of these beautiful white flowers, swaying in the garden as dusk

begins to fall, spreading this most beautiful jasmine-like fragrance

through the garden and the open windows where people

dine, or sleep, or read or just relax in the richness of the scent.

 

On 10th Avenue where I grew a large cutting garden

I planted the nicotiana in short rows and they came back year after year,

glowing in the darkness like fragrant white spirits.

 

I have grown the Dominos, but their fragrance is less spirited.

 

In my seed basket today I have a package of 'Only the Lonely'

Two hundred and ninety five seeds, it says on the package.

 

I will plant them, along with Cleome, at the back of the bed and surely out of

all those seeds I will have a moth or two visiting

in the backyard,  enjoying the heady fragrance with me.

 

 

 

 

For more takes on the letter N click here to visit Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday, with thanks to her and her Nifty helpers.