Fothergill's Nigella Midnight Seeds

Details:

• Botanical Name: Nigella papillosa 'Midnight' (often listed as Nigella hispanica 'Midnight'), a premium, highly ornamental Spanish love-in-a-mist selection.
• Plant Class: Hardy Annual, establishing with exceptional speed from a spring sowing to rapidly flower and seed in the same season.
• Exotic Dark Purple Blooms: Bears an abundance of large, open, saucer-shaped flowers in an opulent shade of rich, deep indigo-purple. The petals surround an exotic, prominent crown of near-black central stamens, creating an incredibly artistic, dramatic focal point.
• Lacy Textural Foliage: Features a highly attractive architecture of finely cut, bright green, and fern-like lacy foliage. This delicate, frothy canopy creates a beautiful, soft visual contrast with the intense saturation of the dark blooms.
• Stately Tall Framework: Naturally forms a robust, multi-branched, bushy, and upright framework reaching a mature height of 90cm (36in). Its tall stature makes it perfect for weaving through the middle or back of sunny cottage borders and meadow planting schemes.
• Quirky Two-Season Interest: Long after the flowers fade, the plant remains a major garden asset. It develops highly structural, deeply ribbed, and horned seed pods in a dark purple-maroon shade, effortlessly extending the plant's seasonal beauty into the autumn.
• Elite Fresh or Dried Cut Flower: Highly sought after by floral designers; both the long-stemmed, exotic fresh blossoms and the unique structural dried seed pods make magnificent, dramatic additions to home floral displays.

Care Instructions:

• Sowing Position: Nigella features a delicate, sensitive taproot and strongly dislikes being transplanted. For the absolute best results, always sow seeds thinly directly into their final flowering positions outdoors from March to May for a summer display. Alternatively, sow in September to over-winter the plants for an extra-early, extra-robust flush of flowers the following spring. Position in full sun.
• Simple Sowing Method: Rake the soil to a fine, crumbly tilth in a weed-free bed. Make shallow drills 0.5cm deep, scatter the seeds thinly, and cover lightly with soil. Water the rows gently with a fine-rose watering can, keeping the seedbed evenly moist until germination occurs (usually within 14–21 days).
• Thinning & Maintenance: Once the young, feathery seedlings emerge, thin them out gradually to a final spacing of 15–20cm apart to give the branched bushes plenty of room to grow. Nigella is incredibly low-maintenance and drought-tolerant once established, requiring only occasional deep watering during extended dry spells.
• Successional Harvesting: For a non-stop, continuous supply of fresh summer flowers, sow small successional batches of seeds every 3 to 4 weeks throughout the spring. To use as dried everlastings, harvest the unique horned seed pods in late summer when they are firm and fully colored, hanging them upside down in a warm, dry, and airy room.