Barbara Hart Radisavljevic
I planted my first nigella plant in this section of my front flower bed years ago. It was a gift from a herb farm that was going out of business. They had some plants for sale and some still growing. The nigella plants appealed to me with their frilly leaves and delicate blue flowers, and I wanted to grow them. But they weren’t for sale.
I had already bought a wagon-load of the plants that were on clearance sale, so the owner dug up a plant to give me, saying it would reseed soon. The plants don’t transplant well, but it was free and worth a try. That plant did produce seeds after it bloomed, but I only got a couple of seedlings one year after that. So when I noticed this nigella among the volunteer plants in my garden this year, I was more than happy. I was delighted! So the top photo shows my Garden Surprise Quiz answer. That is a nigella seed pod that looks like peppermint candy. It grew from a tiny flower that I missed earlier, since so many weeds surrounded the plant. See My Garden Surprise: An Open-Ended Quiz here if you missed it.
The orange and yellow flowers in back are gazanias. The tiny yellow flowers will become the burrs in burr clover. The large blades crossing the photo on the right are iris leaves. The plants in the pot are kale (with the holes) and Jupiter’s Beard. The small beds in the lower right corner are borage buds turned white in this photo by overexposure.
You can find Kim’s June #jff Challenge here.
Great shot. I bet your garden is amazing!
Nope! I’m getting too old to work it the way I once did. It’s getting to be more of a wild cottage type garden. I let the plants mostly do their thing and try to keep the weeds down when I can.
So, I was right in the fact that what I thought what was anise was indeed the “candy flower” lol. The things I thought were grass were the yellow flowers. I did get the clover right! Well I am going to have to look up this flower! Lucky you! And look how big and healthy it is. Congratulations!!
I hope it multiplies for next year. I will have to collect a few seeds, as well, to plant them in other places.
Yes you will! Soon you will have them all over the place, hopefully.
I certainly hope that will happen.
Thank you. For some reason it’s special to me.
How delightful. I have never seen one of those before.
I saw it at may favorite herb farm. I’m really sorry it went out of business when the landlord sold the property to a winery that evicted them.
I never would have guessed that one. Such a cool plant and never heard of it.
When I first saw it, it was new to me, too, but I loved it. I wish it hung around longer than it does.
Most of the beautiful blooms are gone before you know it.
Very true. Flowers are reminders that even the most beautiful lives are short.
Adorable plant, your efforts were successful! Wish to grow something like that.
It can grow quite easily from seed under the right conditions. I’m just sorry I missed most of the flowers this year. But I think the pods are really interesting.