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Nicotiana

borgadrborgadr Posts: 718
in Plants
I have Nicotiana lime green and sylvestris in the garden which I sowed from seed last winter.

Those theat were in pots, watered daily through the drought, grew big, flowered nicely and are now on the compost heap.

Those that I planted out in my beds withered and barely hung on in the drought, and never flowered. But since the rains started in September they have started to regrow.

Right now they are small basal rosettes, 4-8 inches across. Am I right to think that if I dig them up and put them in the greenhouse over winter I can plant them out next year and they will flower normally?

I know they're annuals  but since they haven't flowered I'm assuming they will still run their cycle next year.  Will this work?
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  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited November 2022
    It's certainly worth trying... I've had N. sylvestris behave like a biennial in this garden ... let us know how you get on  :D

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • borgadrborgadr Posts: 718
    Thanks, I'll give it a go. Nothing to lose, except that space will be at a premium in the greenhouse.  Here's how they look now

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited November 2022
    Whereabouts are you?  Mine overwintered outside in the garden here in Norfolk. 
    They were self-sown and it was a relatively mild winter tho.  

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I grew N Sylvestris about 5 years ago and made the mistake of composting the dead plants so there are millions of seeds in my compost bins - I still get seedlings pop up in the garden every year - a few make it through winter.
    But I also use my compost in the GH for my tomato bed and they pop up there too. Most survive over winter unscathed even though I leave a vent open throughout winter.
    Yours should be huge plants by the time they're ready to plant out next year.

    I've also found that the roots left in the ground from dead plants will resprout in the spring.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • borgadrborgadr Posts: 718
    Dovefromabove said:
    Whereabouts are you?  Mine overwintered outside in the garden here in Norfolk. 
    They were self-sown and it was a relatively mild winter tho.  
    I'm in the low-lying part of Kent, so if it's anything like last year I'd guess they'll survive (my dahlias and other tender plants did). But I guess there's no guarantee it will be mild again. 
  • borgadrborgadr Posts: 718
    Pete.8 said:
    I grew N Sylvestris about 5 years ago and made the mistake of composting the dead plants so there are millions of seeds in my compost bins - I still get seedlings pop up in the garden every year - a few make it through winter.
    But I also use my compost in the GH for my tomato bed and they pop up there too. Most survive over winter unscathed even though I leave a vent open throughout winter.
    Yours should be huge plants by the time they're ready to plant out next year.

    I've also found that the roots left in the ground from dead plants will resprout in the spring.
    Interesting. I wonder if that means that they are really perennials that we just treat as annuals.
  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    They are pure perennials here, have had one on with a grapefruit for years, when it stops raining I'll go out and take a picture.
  • MikeOxgreenMikeOxgreen Posts: 812
    My friend had a Nicotiana Silk Cut, purple and white it was. It left yellowy brown stains on his fingers when he burned it.
  • borgadrborgadr Posts: 718
    MikeOxgreen said:
    My friend had a Nicotiana Silk Cut, purple and white it was. It left yellowy brown stains on his fingers when he burned it.
    Haha!  I always assumed you couldn't smoke the ornamental ones. Nicotine is supposed to be a natural pesticide but it didn't seem to stop something eating a few of mine.
  • MikeOxgreenMikeOxgreen Posts: 812
    I wonder where the name of the plant comes from borgadr?
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