It’s Not Time To Pick Cotton Yet!

Before reading a certain garden blogger’s post I had never heard of a cotton plant with dark foliage (Gossypium herbaceum ‘Nigra’). Then this spring Nancy Ondra of Hayefield emailed me and asked if I would like to try some seeds. Me being the seed collecting addict I am I said of course! She also sent along some seeds for an ornamental corn called ‘Tiger Cub’ and a rice called ‘Red Dragon’.  All of these plants were fantastic, interesting, and not yet in my garden. So far of the three types of seeds she sent the cotton has done the best. The rice requires more water than my garden can offer – in an ideal garden it really needs a naturally damp location. I do have a surviving rice plant but it isn’t as happy as I’d like it to be. The corn has pretty well too and is growing cobs which hopefully will provide more seed. But as I said the cotton has done great.

Here’s a look at the nearly black cotton foliage of ‘Nigra’:

ornamental cotton

The dark foliage of this gossypium would have look awesome planted enmass next to my ‘Powis Castle’ artemisia.  Too bad I didn’t think of that! I’ll collect seed this year and give it a try for next year. I really like the combination of silver and dark foliage.

ornamental cotton plant

I planted it next to some of the ornamental corn which you can see in the bottom part of the picture above.  The cotton is somewhere between 18-24 inches tall. The more sun it gets the better it grows. I planted a few seeds in shadier locations and they haven’t reached the height of this one yet. If you look real close you can see them beginning to flower.

ornamental cotton

The bud should open up soon into a beautiful pink-red flower which will eventually turn into the fluffy white seed pods where our clothing come from!  One of the major crops in West Tennessee is cotton and every fall or winter when we visit relatives the fluffy remains of the cotton harvest are seen floating through the fields. Pretty soon we’ll be picking cotton! But for now we’ll just have to “wait one cotton pickin’ minute”…surely you didn’t think I could pass up that pun!

On Today’s Agenda: Working on the Rain Garden

Here’s just a quick list of what needs done with the rain garden in chronological order. 1) Finish excavation: I need to expand the “Big Dig” to its final size. I’m not 100% sure how much bigger I’ll make it but I want to shape…

Read More

October Garden To-Do List

Another month has begun and the list of chores keeps mounting. September’s To-Do List didn’t get completed and those items may need attention in my garden this month too. The weather is nothing short of stunning in October with warm sunshine and cool days, and…

Read More

The Best Way to Keep Green Onions Fresh

Green onions are a delicious topping to many soups and salads but they will go bad fast when stored in the refrigerator crisper drawer. However there is a way to keep green onions fresh for several weeks or more, and it’s so simple! To keep…

Read More

10 Garden Projects for 2009

Rather than talk about useless resolutions for 2009 I thought I would discuss my project plans for the garden. I do have one goal that encompasses all things gardening and in my life that could be considered a resolution: to do all things better than…

Read More

Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day: Buds and Blooms in March

Welcome to Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day at the Home Garden. Be sure to go visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens to tour some of the other blooms and blogs!I will never advocate planting a Bradford pearbut in the right lightit just might look alright!Buds beginning…

Read More

A Raised Bed with Concrete Retaining wall Blocks

This week I put together another project in the vegetable garden. It was a little one that was another step toward designing my vegetable garden as a parterre style garden layout.  The idea for this project was to create something that was both edible and…

Read More

4 thoughts on “It’s Not Time To Pick Cotton Yet!”

  1. I've never seen these plants before. They are gorgeous. It would be great to have them in a person's garden.
    Being from West Tn. I know about the "white" fields. "One cotton minute" is a favorite saying. lol

  2. Out here in the desert west of Phoenix, we are surrounded by cotton fields. We are just starting to see the white seed heads. After the harvest, many of the rural roads around here will have fluffy, white cotton pieces floating around them.

Comments are closed.