Nigella damascena

Amor en la niebla — flores de color azul cielo, blanco o rosa flotando entre una nube de fino follaje filamentoso, seguidas de vistosas cápsulas de semillas infladas perfectas para secar.
Best selling Best selling

Nigella damascena — love-in-a-mist

Nigella damascena is the botanical name for love-in-a-mist, a cottage-garden charmer whose sky-blue, white or rose flowers seem to float within a haze of thread-fine foliage, followed by striking inflated seed pods. It is the species behind our nigella range within the flower seed collection.

History & origin

Native to southern Europe and North Africa, nigella has been grown in cottage gardens for centuries, prized for its delicate flowers, its ornamental seed heads and its happy habit of self-sowing gently year after year once established.

The genus name Nigella comes from the Latin niger, black, for its jet-black seeds, while damascena refers to Damascus, evoking the plant's Eastern Mediterranean origins.

Botanical characteristics

A wiry hardy annual reaching around 40-50 cm, it carries solitary flowers ringed by a ruff of finely divided, ferny bracts, giving the "mist" effect, before forming the balloon-like, horned seed capsules so prized for drying. The flowers are good for bees, placing it among our pollinator flowers, while both blooms and pods make it a favourite for cutting and our dried flowers.

Growing Nigella damascena from seed

Easiest sown direct where it is to flower, scattered thinly on raked soil in full sun in spring, or in autumn for earlier, sturdier plants. It dislikes transplanting, so thin rather than move seedlings; leave a few pods to ripen and it will gently self-seed. Our flower growing guide and flower sowing calendar cover the timing.

Ready to grow love-in-a-mist? Browse the varieties or learn the basics first.

Related categories: Nigella · Annual Flowers · Cut Flowers · Dried Flowers · All Flower Seeds

At SeedsChoice, every order ships from Meppel, NL with fast, tracked EU delivery.

¿Por qué se llama amor en la niebla?
Cada flor se asienta dentro de una corona de brácteas finas y plumosas que crean un halo suave y neblinoso alrededor de la flor — de ahí el romántico nombre común. ¿Siembro la nigella directamente o la trasplanto?
Siémbrala directamente donde vaya a florecer; la nigella no tolera el trasplante, así que aclara las plántulas en lugar de moverlas. ¿Puedo sembrarla en otoño?
Sí — una siembra otoñal produce plantas más tempranas y robustas, con flores más grandes al año siguiente en jardines de clima suave. ¿Son útiles las cápsulas de semillas?
Mucho — las vistosas cápsulas globosas con cuernos son muy apreciadas para secar y usar en arreglos florales; deja algunas para que maduren y la planta se resembrará sola.