Flowering tobacco, nicotiana hybrida F1 Baby Bella
If you’re looking for a prolific bloomer to enhance your border or add beauty to your pots, consider the flowering tobacco called Baby Bella! Its deep wine-red to chocolate-colored flowers would pair perfectly with other blooms such as Rudbeckia ‘Cherry Brandy,’ a Japanese Acer in a pot, or Cosmos ‘Chocolat’!

Planting information to grow flowering Tobacco from seed:
Plant type: half-hardy annual
Height: 60 centimeters
Position: full sun or partial shade
Start: from 6-8 weeks before the last frost date
Germination: 10-15 days, 18 to 22°C, seeds need light to germinate
Number of days until plants bloom: 90 – 100 days
Distance between the plants: 30-40 centimeters
Pinching: not recommended
Number of seeds per pack: 50, coated

Want to know how to grow flowering tobacco or Nicotiana plants from seeds?
It’s quite simple! We recommend starting the seeds a few weeks before the last frost in seed trays with a propagator. The propagator helps maintain the right moisture level in the soil, ensuring it’s neither too wet nor too dry. To make handling easier, we provide coated seeds since they are incredibly tiny. The coating is harmless and only adds a thin layer around the seeds. If you happen to have a spare heating mat, it can be used to speed up germination as Nicotiana prefers slightly warmer conditions for successful sprouting. Keep in mind that the seedlings are delicate and grow at a slow pace.

To start growing flowering tobacco or Nicotiana plants, begin by sowing the seeds in small cells. After a few weeks, it’s beneficial to repot them into larger containers. Providing fresh soil and additional space works wonders for their growth. Once the risk of frost has passed, you can safely transplant them into the desired outdoor location. From there, you can delight in their beautiful flowers, which will continue to bloom for many weeks!

Flowering tobacco is known to be a resilient cut flower, capable of lasting around 7 to 8 days. However, it’s worth noting that the stems of flowering tobacco can be slightly sticky.