Flowering tobacco

Many types of nicotiana are terrifically fragrant (especially at night) and are wonderful in attracting hummingbirds as well as fascinating hummingbird moths.

There are several types of nicotiana, also called flowering tobacco because it's a cousin of the regular tobacco plant. Try the shorter, more colorful types in containers or the front of beds or borders. The taller, white-only types, which can reach 5 feet, are dramatic in the back of borders. And they're ideal for night gardens; they're usually most fragrant at dusk. These plants do best in full sun and moist, well-drained soil, and they may reseed.

Light:

Sun

Plant Type:

Annual

Plant Height:

To 5 feet tall

Plant Width:

To 2 feet wide

Landscape Uses:

Containers,Beds & Borders

Special Features:

Flowers,Fragrant,Fall Color,Attracts Hummingbirds,Attracts Butterflies,Easy to Grow

Top Varieties

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Jasmine tobacco

Nicotiana alata bears clusters of fragrant greenish-yellow flowers on 5-foot-tall stems. Perennial in Zones 10-11, but usually grown as an annual.
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Domino flowering tobacco

Nicotiana 'Domino Series' bears flowers in shades of red, white, pink, and rose on 14-inch-tall plants.
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Nicotiana langsdorffii

Nicotiana langsdorffii offers nodding clusters of green flowers on 5-foot-tall stems.
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'Lime Green' flowering tobacco

Nicotiana 'Lime Green' bears chartreuse star-shape flowers on 2-foot-tall plants.
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Nicotiana mutabilis

Nicotiana mutabilis bears trumpet-shape flowers that open white and mature to rich, rose pink on 4-foot-tall plants. Perennial in Zones 9-11, but usually grown as an annual.
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'Nicki Red' flowering tobacco

Nicotiana 'Nicki Red' bears richly fragrant red flowers on 18-inch-tall plants.
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'Purfume Deep Purple' flowering tobacco

Nicotiana 'Perfume Deep Purple' is an award-winning selection that bears rich purple flowers on 2-foot-tall plants.
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Nicotiana sylvestris

Nicotiana sylvestris bears clusters of fragrant white trumpet-shape flowers on plants to 5 feet tall. Perennial in Zones 10-11, but usually grown as an annual.
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Garden Plans

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Fragrant Slope Garden Plan
Red-Theme Garden Plan
Annual Garden for Shade
Four Gorgeous Bulb and Perennial Gardens
Fragrant Garden
Design for a Moon Garden
Easy-Care Mixed Fall Garden Plan
Flowery Deck Garden Plan
Tiny Corner Garden Plan

Plant It With

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Spider Flower

Plant taller flowering tobacco varieties with cleome for a beautiful and airy display of white flowers that are perfect for evening gardens.

Dusty miller

Contrast flowering tobacco's starry flowers with the silvery felted foliage of dusty miller for a great display all summer long.

French Marigold

Old-fashioned marigolds look -- and grow -- great with flowering tobacco in the ground or in containers.

Propagation

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Seed