i love the nicotiana but worms always attack them
my first bed from June '07
Very pretty Angie! I love Nicotiana too, and wanna get some of the crimson like you've got there. Also trying a couple of green flowering forms in '09 too.
What are those little blue star shaped flowers? Those are lovely!
Neal
hi neal
thanks for the compliment !
everything in the pic was started indoors from seed except the melampodium.
the crimson colored one was my favorite, but it was part of a mix i got from park seed...
the blue ones are Laurentia Avant-Garde Blue, also seed from Park.
the laurentia did very well, until it got real hot here and started getting extreme western sun. i would say this plant likes sun but not the direct afternoon sun. if you grow alot from seed, you should try this one. plus it's an award winner....i favor those, thinking i'll have better success
Thanks, Angie, I'm gonna definitely try those Laurentia! I've eyed them closely in catalogs before, but they usually only show close ups of the flowers. Seeing the whole plant, I'm sold! I'm big on seed starting these days. I'm such a plant hog there's no way I could ever afford my obsession without seeds, LOL. Have you tried saving seed from them? I'm wondering if they're something I could keep going without having to purchase seed every year. Do you know how well they perform in drought?
the seeds are tiny, and probably wouldn't come true if you were able to collect. i wouldn't consider them drought tolerant, their water need would be comparable to the nicotiana
Angie, I never heard of worms attacking tobacco. Is it a southern thing? What kind of worms? (Inquiring minds want to know!)
I'm betting tobacco horn worms...yuck!
it's little green worms that like to eat into the new buds before they even open...they were all over the ones in this picture...i tried putting BT powder on them, and i guess it deterred them some...but the powder makes them look ugly.....i noticed a few worms on this one in the container, but i picked them off......ever since i put nicotiana in this container it grows back every year from all the seeds it drops..so pretty and heavenly smell in the evening
I hope I don't get them. Tobacco is one of my all-time faves!
Here the big green horn worms are an issue, but they like my tomatoes better than the Nicotiana, LOL.
horn worms like our tomatoes too =)
Hi, I just wanted to share that the worms are probably Tobacco bud worms. I had them all over my Petunias last summer, they look like small caterpillars. I had let them go for a little bit thinking they might be a 'good' caterpillar - just thought I should warn, so someone else doesn't make the same mistake. They are very varied looking, coming in different colors so it took me a little searching to figure out they were all the same thing. Here's a link with some info on them. http://www.ext.colostate.edu/Pubs/insect/05581.html
meredith, thanks for sharing that....and that sounds just like what they were, cause they are little green worms that devour