Hopi Tobacco / Nicotiana rustica

There are several Nicotiana varieties called “Hopi tobacco.” This one is small and well-behaved enough to include in a flower bed. Its pale blue-green leaves are rounded, six inches or less, and arranged in a tight rosette. Flower stalks rise up to three feet with masses of yellow-green tubular blooms in late summer. Much higher nicotine content than smoking tobacco makes it a good choice for insecticidal teas.

Neighbors who have used this variety for ceremonial smoking report that though its effects are strong, its taste is mild and mellow. We include it in our gardens for its quietly beautiful presence, and its reminder that modest plants often carry powerful compounds that will prove useful in the future. It is one of those plants that seems to glow at dusk and in moonlight.

Culture: germinates easily, can be started in flats or in place in late spring. Full to half sun, good soil, regular water especially when young.

Saving Seed: let seed pods ripen on the plant if the weather is dry. If there’s rain, cut seed stalk and hang in a dark dry place in a paper bag. Seeds will fall out when ripe. Grow separately from other Nicotianas.

Grown in 2010; germination tested November 2011: 85% Packet = around 200 seeds -- $3.