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’:
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.
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.
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!
The Weekend Garden Gameplan
Oh I know, I’m keenly aware of the Superbowl coming up but this post has nothing to do with it. You see Saturday is destined to be a day outdoors – nothing short of the weather forecasters getting it completely wrong can stop that. We…
Local Events: Mule Day
Columbia, TN which is just down the road from us is currently having it’s annual Mule Day festival. It began on Tuesday and continues through this Sunday. It’s basically a festival with arts and crafts, bluegrass music, clogging, and several mule related events. There’s even…
The Blooming of My Lenten Rose (Hellebore orientalis)
For a couple years now I’ve watched and waited for our hellebore to bloom. Every year I jealously read the posts of other gardener bloggers who are happily displaying their hellebore blooms but alas, I had no flowers to share! But now the single Lenten…
White Nose
Almost sounds like a Christmas song but White Nose is the name of a squirrel that frequents our yard and our back deck. He’s a pretty big little guy with a furry white nose, hence his name. He feels quite comfortable partaking of our bird…
Walking on a Saturday Morning to See the Sunset (Echinacea and Maple)
This Saturday Morning I walked around the yard doing some little garden chores. I stopped by a mum and clipped it back (and took the cuttings inside for propagating). I watered a few things around the gardens, mostly cuttings that have been potted up. I…
Our “Massive” January Snowfall
As usual the weather forecasters just couldn’t nail our weather forecast. Several days ago they began hyping the massive snowfall of 1-3 inches that was on its way. The forecast at one point even predicted 2-4 inches! OK I know you northern gardeners are saying…
Discover more from Growing The Home Garden
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
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
I also am not familiar with this plant…so beautiful. I really like the color of the foliage.
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.
That cotton is beautiful! If you have enough seeds, would you consider sharing with your loyal readers? 🙂