Nigella

Slender, upright plants carry bright-green feathery foliage and single or double white, pink, blue or violet flowers. Each flower is surrounded by a ‘ruff’ of finely dissected wispy leaves which are followed by inflated seed heads.

These plants will grow in any well-drained soil in a sunny location. They can do well in poor, dry soils, but will just be shorter plants with smaller flowers.

They won't grow well in very heavy, permanently wet soil and will not flower freely in shade.

Removing faded flowers encourages further flowering, but you can allow a few seed heads to develop for drying for winter decoration. You can collect seed and sow them in early autumn, or they can be left on the plant to self-sow freely in the garden.Seeds of Nigella sativa (black cumin) are used in cooking like poppy seeds.