WashingtonGardener: Love-in-a-Mist Plant Profile

Wednesday, July 01, 2026

Love-in-a-Mist Plant Profile

Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella spp.) is an annual flower with beautiful blue, pink, or white blooms and fine, fennel-like foliage. The seed pods are quite striking as well.

It is native to southern Europe and northern Africa. It is hardy to USDA Zones 2 to 11. It is surprisingly deer-resistant.

It is a pretty cut-flower specimen in a vase whether in its flower or seed stages. It also dries well for an ever-lasting bouquet.

Love-in-a-Mist grows from 1 to 2 feet tall and it does best in full sun. It prefers well-draining, rich soils. It grows in the cool-seasons of spring and fall and will peter out in the heat of summer. So get the seeds started as soon as the soil can be worked in early spring.

Once established, it will self-sow and pops up in sidewalk cracks and the edges of plantings. You can pull and transplant these seedlings quite easily. You should also thin the self-sown seedlings to prevent over-crowding. Deadhead the seedpods, if you don’t want to let it self-sow.

It is an old-fashioned favorite and does well in mixed borders and cottage gardens as well as in containers.

Love-in-a-Mist: You Can Grow That!

The video was produced by Washington Gardener Magazine.

Audio, Video, Photos, and Text by Kathy Jentz

Editing by Koree Perry

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