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!
How to Build an Arbor (Part 2)
The next step to putting the arbor together after we set the posts was to assemble the top. The top section was made from 3 45″ 4″x4″ pieces set in a diamond position. The arbor top was designed to fit the 4″x4″ pieces into the…
September GROW Update!
It’s almost time for this gardener to get some lettuce growing in the vegetable garden and I don’t have a lettuce update yet for the GROW project but I can show you how the basil and marigold seeds have done. We’ve been suffering from drought…
The White Pigeon
Today I had an odd thing happen. I was working in the garage when all of a sudden something slammed into the wall above the garage door. How a bird could mistake a wall for open air I don’t really know. Of course many birds…
December Skyscapes
A view of our southern sky with the skeletal tree branches making an interesting skyline.A sunset with dark red clouds reflecting the light of the western sun.
Wacky Winter Weather
You know the saying “If you don’t like the weather in {Insert your state here}, just wait a few minutes!” In the last two days, and possibly much of January, truer words could not be said about the weather here in Tennessee. Gray skies have…
Cherokee Purple Tomato
Isn’t this just a pretty tomato? This is one of the new varieties of vegetables I’m trying this year in the vegetable garden. Cherokee purple is an heirloom tomato that actually has a Tennessee origin. In 1990 man in Sevierville, TN named John Green sent…
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? 🙂