If you’re looking to grow gorgeous and ethereal flowers this season, look no further than love-in-a-mist (nigella) flowers. These incredible showstoppers will add a touch of elegance to your garden. In this article, plant expert Matt Dursum covers how to plant, grow, and care for these majestic flowers. Love-in-a-mist flowers also go by their botanical name, Nigella. They put on beautiful, dancing flowers framed by delicate fennel-like foliage that resembles verdant mist. As they grow, their foliage tangles beneath their flowers and bracts. You can grow these mystical flowers in flower beds, cut gardens, or pathways. They look beautiful when paired with other delicate flowers. Or, use them as backdrops to roses and other brightly colored centerpieces. They come in a variety of colors, from the popular blue varieties to white, pink, and purple varieties. They’ll bloom for several weeks starting in late spring. Once they bloom, they’ll fill with color. Growing these stunning early-season bloomers is super easy, even for novice gardeners. Let’s dive into how to plant, grow, and care for love-in-a-mist (Nigella) flowers below. What Is It? Love-in-a-mist flowers are from the genus Nigella. They produce upright foliage with slender stems and colorful flowers. They’re often grown in garden beds and pathways as border crops. Many gardeners love them for their mist-like appearance, which frames other colorful garden flowers. These delicate flowers are members of the buttercup family of plants, or Ranunculaceae. They make a graceful addition to any flower garden. You can also grow them as a small to medium ground cover surrounding your garden beds. Because of their numerous flowers, they’ll be some of your garden’s best early-season pollinator attractors. Bees and other insects swarm to their beautiful blooms. Their woven foliage is also a great habitat for beneficial insects such as ladybugs. Characteristics Nigella plants are hardy annuals that grow to about 1 to 2 feet tall. They have bright green, thin leaves that resemble fennel or anise. As their blooms form in late spring to early summer, thin bracts form around them, which resemble thin, green lace. The flowers grow to be close to 1.5 inches wide. They form 5 large sepals and tiny petals within their stamens. After pollination, they form vivid black seeds in large pods that resemble balloons. Thin, lacy green bracts form around the pods, adding to their misty appearance. Once the pods dry, the dark seeds disperse. They’ll naturally self-sow and form next year’s crop. The following spring, you should see the seedlings emerge in the same section of your garden. Native Area Nigella flowers are native to Southern Europe and North Africa. In their native habitat, they grow along trails, roadsides, fields, and rocky ground. You’ll find these small plants in the Mediterranean region, especially in mountain regions and on hillsides. Today, gardeners throughout the world plant them as herbaceous annual flowers. Planting Love-in-a-mist flowers are easy to plant from seed. They germinate quickly in well-drained soil and sunny locations. Plant them in yards, flower beds, patios, or garden borders. They’ll also thrive in coastal gardens. If you’re limited on space, try growing them in containers such as these for an elegant porch or patio showpiece. If you have a south-facing window that gets plenty of sun, they’ll even thrive in indoor containers. To get consistent blooms throughout the season, try succession planting. This helpful garden trick works by staggering plantings throughout the season. Just as one batch finishes blooming, the other is just beginning.

Cooler weather has us thinking about sweet peas and their delightful fragrance. Sweet peas are a great addition to the garden whether you sow them in the fall or spring. Gardening expert Melissa Strauss will walk you through planting and tending to these blooming beauties. Daintily meandering on a trellis, reaching to the sky, sweet peas are shining stars of the cool-weather garden. Their generously ruffled and fragrant flowers are perfection in floral arrangements, and their long, slender stems make them perfect for the cut flower garden. Whether you grow them for cutting or prefer to leave them in the garden, these vines have a touch of magic. Their surprising cold tolerance makes them perfect for growing through the winter in warm climates, and in cold climates, they are ideal for the early spring garden. What Is It? Sweet peas have long been a favorite of gardeners when it comes to sharing and hybridization. In part, this is due to the ease with which you can cross-pollinate them, In addition to their exceptionally nice fragrance and overall beauty among plants. Their cool weather growth habit and frost tolerance make them surprisingly sturdy in spite of their delicate appearance. ‘Winter Elegance’ is a delightful series of many colored beauties. Characteristics Sweet peas are annual vining plants that love a place to climb. They love cold weather, germinating best in the range of 55-65°F (13-18°C). Between 35-55°F (2-13°C) is where they do their best growing, making them excellent for fall sowing in warm climates. There is no need to worry about the occasional dip below freezing. The vines, especially when they are young, can tolerate quite a bit. They will survive brief dips in the 20s (-7°C). ‘Winter Elegance’ is a wonderful series for the cut flower garden. These varieties have a gentle, pleasant fragrance and considerably long stems. They perform well in areas with mild winters. This series comes in several colors, including white, purple, pink, apricot, and even red and blue. By planting a blend, you can harvest a wide range of shades from this group. They are early bloomers, with lightly ruffled petals on blooms of considerable size. Native Area Though other types exist, Lathyrus odoratus is the most commonly used in the flower garden. It is native to Southern Italy, specifically the island of Sicily. There, it was first recorded by a Franciscan monk named Francisco Cupani in 1695. These plants are accustomed to the mild winters of the Mediterranean region. Typically considered spring and early summer bloomers, it is likely that they originally bloomed in winter and early spring in their native range. This area experiences cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Sweet peas prefer cool, moist weather. Planting In cool climates, you can plant seeds as soon as the ground is workable. Because of their cold tolerance, waiting for the last frost date is unnecessary. The shoots will tolerate quite cold temperatures, though the flowers won’t survive a frost. In warm climates, so seeds in the fall for winter blooms. In Zones 8 and higher, this is the ideal growing time. If you try to grow them in spring, you’ll have a short growing season, as they flower best between 45-68°F (7-20°C). Once temperatures rise above their range, they will begin to fade.

One of the hottest peppers in the world, ghost peppers bring excitement to the edible landscape and the plate. The Indian cultivar represents centuries of foodways making their way to our home garden. Gardening expert Katherine Rowe explores how to grow the easy peppers if you’re up for their sensational heat. At over one million Scoville units on the universal heat scale, ghost peppers are among the hottest naturally occurring peppers. They’re over 400 times hotter than a jalapeno and were the first to break one million on the index. The former world record holder remains a favorite among hot pepper enthusiasts and a staple in the fieriest of hot sauces and chile powders. More than just commodified heat, the cultivar, also called bhut jolokia, is from India and infuses regional cuisine, whether sliced fresh, dried, ground, pounded, or pickled. Layers of flavor and spice are discernible to those with a honed palate, and they change depending on how the chile is used. An important part of cultural foodways, the pepper travels to our home gardens to delight and intrigue with novel, awe-inducing spice. Peppers are an easy-to-grow summertime reward, and each plant produces numerous fruits as temperatures warm. From sweet and mild to robust and fiery, the nightshades run the gamut of flavor and spice. Ghost peppers aren’t for the faint of heart. Whether incorporating them fresh, dried, or in homemade hot sauces, the pleasure-and-pain spice comes with its own plant defensive warning; the king pepper is hot. What Are Ghost Peppers? Ghost peppers are a type of chile pepper that belongs to the same species, Capsicum chinense, as habaneros and Scotch bonnets. The heat- and sun-loving nightshades have a slow-burning, slightly fruity, ultra-intense heat to those who can pick up on the nuances. The heat within peppers comes from the compound capsaicin, a well-adapted plant defense that’s an irritant to pests that may graze the fruits. The heat index used to measure peppers is the Scoville Scale, although climate, temperature, soil type, and growing location all have an impact on the heat of an individual pepper. Scoville heat units (SHU) measure the capsaicin in a pepper. Invented by Wilbur Scoville in 1912, it’s a range measure of how hot a pepper tastes. The Carolina Reaper and Pepper X, among others, have bested ghost in terms of record-setting heat units, but that doesn’t detract from the pioneering chile. In addition to its role in cuisine, the Indian military used it to make tear-gas-like hand grenades to defuse incidents. An ecological study found success in coating native plant seeds with bhut jolokia powder to deter browsing mice in America’s grasslands. Characteristics The showy peppers measure two and a half to three inches long and ripen from bright green to bright orange-red to deep red. The scarlet tones and bumpy texture are external signs of the internal heat warning. Fruits mature at around 100 days from transplanting. The leafy annuals can reach heights of several feet and widths of two feet. They’re prolific producers, and heat aplenty will come from the fruits of a single plant. Handle the hot peppers and plants with care during harvest and preparation to avoid skin and eye irritation. Wear gloves when harvesting and pruning. Make sure to label them in the garden so you know what you’re working with, and keep them out of the reach of young children. Native Area Bhut jolokia is a hybrid C. chinense that originates in Northeast India. The cultivar is heat-tolerant and grows in frost-free climates. The species and other chile peppers trace their heritage to the lowlands of Brazil. The wild species with fruits the size of small cherries grew extensively in South and Central America and underwent cultivation by indigenous cultures. Explorers from Spain, including Christopher Columbus, brought the peppers to Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. The nightshades, along with fellow family members the tomato, slowly made their way into cuisine. Planting Chilis are frost-sensitive and rely on warm air and soil temperatures for best growth. They grow easily from seed, soaking up summer sun for the plentiful, long-developing fruits. Space plants 18 to 24 inches apart for good air circulation to reduce the likelihood of diseases. Space rows two to three feet apart. Crops in the nightshade family benefit from rotation yearly because they easily transmit pests and diseases. If you’re growing bhut jolokia in the ground, choose a spot where you haven’t grown other nightshades (eggplants, tomatoes, tomatillos, potatoes, and other peppers) in the past year for a clean plot. The adaptable, compact crops grow well in containers and raised beds, making them good solutions for small spaces, and if soils lack nutrition or adequate drainage. How to Grow Pepper plants are easy, forgiving crops with average cultural requirements for prolific fruiting. Ghost will want plenty of sun, moisture, warmth, and airflow for the best performance. Maintenance Mulch ghost peppers with a layer of clean straw, chopped leaves, or aged wood chips to provide insulation. Don’t crowd stems with mulch, as this can cause rot; instead, topdress the surrounding area to protect the roots. Initially, let the sun warm plant roots for growth without mulch. When stems reach 18 inches tall, layer two to three inches of weed-free straw around plants. Mulch aids moisture retention, weed suppression, and soil temperature regulation. While peppers are frost-sensitive, consider overwintering your specialty bhut jolokia. Mature specimens have established roots for earlier production and vigor—there’s no need to toss viable plants into the compost pile if you’re in a position to overwinter them. To overwinter pepper plants, cut them back by two-thirds in the fall as temperatures cool but before frost. The thick, woody stems will produce new growth in the spring. In frost-free climates, peppers survive winter outdoors. Move them to a protected spot away from drying winds. In cold climates, move plants indoors to a location with minimal light, like an unheated garage or basement. The goal is to keep the soil and roots from freezing temperatures. Water minimally and only when the soil feels dry to a depth of one inch.