Blue for a Cottage Garden | Nigella damascena

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Gardening | Plant ID

nigella

Nigella is a genus of attractive hardy annual herbs of the Buttercup Family, with blue, yellow, or white flowers, and very finely cut foliage, which probably suggests the common name, Fennel-flower. It is also called Love-in-the-mist and will be forever linked to Gertrude Jekyll.

Alice Morse Earle wrote of this mysterious plant in Old Time Gardens:

"I join with Dr. Forbes Watson in finding the Nigella uncanny. It has a half-spidery look, that seems ungracious in a flower. Its names are curious: Love-in-a-mist, Love-in-a-puzzle, Love-in-a-tangle, Puzzle-love, Devil-in-a-bush, Katherine-flowers—another of the many allusions to St. Katherine and her wheel; and the persistent styles do resemble the spokes of a wheel. A name given it in a cottage garden in Wayland was Blue Spider-flower, which seems more suited than that of Spiderwort for the Tradescantia. Spiderwort, like all "three-cornered" flowers, is a flower of mystery; and so little cared for to-day that it is almost extinct in our gardens, save where it persists in out-of-the-way spots. A splendid clump of it is here shown, which grows still in the Worcester garden I so loved in my childhood. In this plant the old imagined tracings of spider's legs in the leaves can scarce be seen. With the fanciful notion of "like curing like" ever found in old medical recipes, Gerarde says, vaguely, the leaves are good for "the Bite of that Great Spider," a creature also of mystery."

Below are views of the fine leaves and unusual seed pods. 

 

The beautiful cover of Hortus Eystettensis

originally published in 3 volumes, 1620

Besler, Basilius. Hortus Eystettensis: 2. Sansepolcro: Aboca Museum Ed, 2

In the second volume of Hortensus Eystettensis is a botanical illustration of nigella which at the time was labeled as Melanthium. (See below).

Bessler, B., Hortus Eystettensis, vol. 2: t. 178 (1620)

Plants Illustrated

Nigella belongs to the Ranunculaceae Family (Buttercup or Crowfoot Family).

©  2021 Hyden Photography 

for

Grassroots Horticulture

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Lemon Beebalm | Monarda citriodora | Pollinator Habitat

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Known by a number of common names, lemon beebalm is a 1-2 ft., aromatic annual with unusual, tuft-like, lavender to pink, whorled flower heads. Each whorl in the elongated spike is subtended by whitish or lavender, leaf-like bracts. Several stems grow from the base and are lined with pairs of lance-shaped leaves.

Bergamo Beebalm

Monarda Citriodora 'Bergamo'

Linnaeus named the genus Monarda in honor of a 16th century Spanish physician and botanist, Nicolas Bautista Monardes (1493-1588). Monardes studied medicinal plants brought back to Spain from the New World.

Horsemint has a distinctive citrus or lemony scent when the leaves are rubbed or crushed. It is very easy to grow and often forms large colonies. Bees and butterflies are attracted to this plant

Known by several names, Monarda citriodora, can be called lemon beebalm, purple horsemint, lemon mint, plains horsemint, lemon horsemint, horsemint, and purple lemon mint.

Bibliography

• Gardening with Prairie Plants: How to Create Beautiful Native Landscapes (2002) Wasowski, Sally
• Landscaping with Native Plants of Texas and the Southwest (1991) Miller, G. O.
• Native Texas Plants: Landscaping Region by Region (2002) Wasowski, S. and; A. Wasowski
• Texas Wildflowers: A Field Guide (1984) Loughmiller, C. and; L. Loughmiller
• Texas Wildscapes: Gardening for Wildlife (1999) Damude, N. and; K.C. Bender
• Useful wild plants of Texas, the Southeastern and Southwestern United States, the Southern Plains, and Northern Mexico (Volume 1: Abronia-Arundo) (1995) S. Cheatham; M. C. Johnston; L. Marshall
• Wildflowers of Texas (2003) Ajilvsgi, Geyata.
• Wildflowers of the Texas Hill Country (1989) Enquist, M.
• Spiders associated with lemon horsemint in east central Texas, Martin Nyffeler, et al.
• Evaluation of the Antifungal Activity of the Essential Oils of Monarda citriodora, Bishop.

©  Grassroots Horticulture

2000-2019

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