It's not often that I refer to one of the flowers I grow by it's common name but in the case of the beautiful little annual seen here it was precisely b/c of that very creative name that I added it to my gardens in the first place. So...while it's common name- 'Love-in-a-Mist' gives no clues to it's heritage or characteristics, it IS much more descriptively interesting than NIGELLA damascena.

I grow these little 1.5-2" blossoms in pink, blue and purple but this year I added white ones and am loving the different colored throats. The one in this image is purple but I also had ones w/ throats in shades of blue and pink. I am just in love w/ these very dainty, multi-layered petals that look like little dancers in my gardens at night.

The image here was photographed after dark and while I always concentrate on the very elaborate seed head at the center I also wanted to include some of the surrounding foliage that each blossom rests upon. That foliage is what is referred to as 'the mist' in it's common 'Love-in-a-Mist' name. Someone did a wonderful job naming these little guys.