Nicotiana sylvestris, or the tobacco plant. This should begin flowering around early July but this year, here we are nearly into September before the flower spikes are forming. But I'm not complaining as these plants were sown by me from garden saved seeds. The seeds are minute, more like dust really and they are tricky to germinate. Basically the seed is sprinkled on some compost, kept moist but not wet at a temperature above 20-25 degrees centigrade and in darkness. Eventually after a couple of weeks the tiniest plants emerge. You can see an image of this on March 19th.
Now it gets tricky as they need transplanting into individual growing cells but they're so tiny it needs almost surgical precision. Eventually after a month (if you're lucky) you'll have seedlings about 1cm high with a pair of true leaves. During May and June these grow on rapidly until huge plants develop with really long tap roots. It's a remarkable change. The flower spikes is loved by moths, that's why we grow these.
interestingly this year Julie thought the ones I'd sown were not going to grow and flower in time and she bought six longer established plants. None of these bought plants look vigorous, in fact they look positively anaemic. Whereas my home grown ones are vibrant, if a little late developing. But that's 2024 all over, the wet cold spring has delayed everything from flowering by around a month. But I'm happy as these self sown plants will provide crucial late moth nectar.
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