Living On and On

This nicotiana was planted in the clay of a sewer line replacement bed last spring. This is one of my plants that self-seed every year; there are hundreds that come up annually in the front garden. I moved some of these seedlings last year to the sewer line bed, and topped with a lot of organic mulch to start multi-year process of amending the soil.

With a new wood fence that reflects sunlight and heat and help protect the bed over winter, some of these nicotiana decided to stay over winter and bounce to life in early spring. A sunny warm spot, along with a layer of leaf mulch helped to protect it from winter.

This one plant came out of hibernation and started blooming a month ago when other nicotiana seeds were germinating. Now, many new nicotiana seedlings are sprouting around the base of this plant, and some of those are blooming now. The mother plant can use the company. And yes, I end up ripping the seedlings out all over the front yard like weeds.

Year after year, these blooms coming from the self-seeding are turning more and more cream-colored, losing their lime color. No problem. They bloom at evenings, so color is not that visible.

Come another month, these plants will be reseeding and all bloomed out. Cutting them back will produce more blooms, but they will not be as prolific as they are now.