How to Grow Nigella Love-in-a-Mist

Scratch the garden soil with a stiff-tine rake, loosening the soil to a depth of 1/2 inch to 1 inch. A hoe works equally well, especially in open areas where other plants and their roots do not bind up the soil surface.

Scatter the love-in-a-mist seeds broadly across the freshly agitated soil surface. There's no need to cover seeds or tamp them down. In cold winter regions, such as U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 1 through 5, sow seeds in very early spring as soon as the soil is workable. In mild-winter areas -- zones 6 and warmer, sow seeds in autumn or late winter. Seedlings are cold-tolerant and survive over the winter and continue to grow once spring's warmth returns.

Allow flowers to ripen and form seed capsules if you want love-in-a-mist to come back year after year in the garden or meadow. Keep in mind seeds of color-specific cultivars of this annual will not produce seedlings with the same flower colors in subsequent generations.

Pull up and compost dead or withering mature love-in-a-mist plants once no more flowers are produced and the capsules shed their seeds. If you don't want seedlings to sprout up in the compost, burn the dead love-in-a-mist or let them decay in a pile away from the compost that is applied across various parts of your garden.