One of only several annuals I grow in my gardens I fell in love w/ this pretty pink blossom's name long before I fell in love w/ the flower itself. Botanically known as NIGELLA damascena, it's common name 'Love-in-the-Mist' is so much more descriptive that I almost didn't care what it looked like....I just wanted that lovely named blossom in my gardens.

The most commonly grown variety is blue- which I do grow but the white ones, purple ones and pink ones have also been a staple in my gardens for about six years now. The petals-all 10-12 layers, are tissue paper thin. Without a doubt this little 2" blossom is one of the daintiest flowers I grow.

In the image seen here while I was trying to show those dainty pink petals what I was really interested in showing was the rather exotic seed head of the NIGELLA. The six longer octopus-like appendages are actually the stamens. The dozens of shorter waving arms each have a seed at the end of them. Unfortunately, those tiny seeds are rather tender and do not survive the harsh winters at my place....instead, I start new plants inside each spring.