Filed under: Gardening, Flowers
Each week, bring a new bloom into your home and garden with our gardener's favorite floral find.
Nicotiana mutabilis growing in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Fragrance Garden. Photo: Marie Viljoen
The flowering tobaccos are easily the annual stars of September. Slow to start earlier in the year, they put on a growth spurt in late summer, raising their delicate flowers up to six feet above the garden. I like N. mutabilis for its namesake color-changing flowers, from white to pink, which are highly attractive to butterflies and humming birds. Plant it with its cousins, N. sylvestris (tall, white and scented) and N. alata (shorter with bright lime green flowers) for a spectacular floral display that lasts till frost.