Description
Nicotiana alata | Flowering Tobacco ‘Lime Green’
There are over 65 species of Tobacco that hail from Australia, North America, and tropical South America. They are attractive plants with beautiful flowers and appealing foliage. All of them have tubular or trumpet-shaped flowers that come in nearly every color and most often open during the evening and and nighttime hours, sometimes releasing a pleasant fragrance. They can be used as specimen or bedding plants, in borders, woodland gardens, in containers, or for planting in masses or even as a focal point.
Nicotiana alata, commonly called flowering tobacco, jasmine tobacco, or winged tobacco (alata means winged), is native from southern Brazil to northeastern Argentina. ‘Lime Green’ tobacco plants produce graceful stems with lime green trumpet-shaped, nodding flowers that release a lightly scented sweet perfume that peaks at dusk on warm nights, attracting exotic pollinators and domestic gardeners to its calming presence.
We use this plant in our gardens as much as we can because it quickly grows into a small bush with masses of flowers come July when it starts to bloom, and will then keep blooming well into fall. In fact, of the many varieties of Nicotiana we grow on our property each year, N. alata ‘Lime Green’ is almost always the last one to keep flowering in late autumn. The 2.5-3 ft plants stand up to rough weather without staking and are not fussy about soil. A half day of sun is plenty, which makes it easy to tuck them in near a door or window, so that you may enjoy the perfume indoors. Makes a great addition to cottage gardens, summer borders, and containers.
Start seeds indoors 6-8 weeks before last frost, or direct sow outdoors after last frost. Do not cover tiny seeds with soil. Needs light, humidity and heat to germinate.
Attracts bees, moths and hummingbirds. Deer resistant.
Type: Annual
Sun exposure: Full sun to part shade
Mature height: 2.5-3 ft
Mature width: 8-18 inches
Hardiness zones: 10-11
Please note: All parts of the plant are poisonous if ingested. All tobaccos should be considered poisonous to consume (smoking brings its own risks); some are extremely poisonous and have caused fatalities. Poisoning through intentional or accidental misuse of nicotine and products containing it is a relatively common occurrence. Related species may contain other toxic alkaloids, chemically similar to nicotine, so it is for this reason we suggest that you enjoy Jasmine Tobacco ‘Lime Green’ and other ornamental species of tobacco for their flowers only. Do NOT smoke these leaves.
