How to Grow Nicotiana for Evening Scent

Nicotiana, the flowering tobacco plant, is one of the most rewarding annuals you can grow for evening scent. Learning how to grow nicotiana in the UK comes down to two things: starting the very fine seed correctly, and choosing the right species for fragrance. The most scented kinds release their perfume at dusk, not in daylight, so where you plant them matters as much as how you grow them.

This guide draws on three summers of side-by-side trials in a Staffordshire garden. We compared the scented species against modern F1 bedding mixes for actual evening fragrance, moth visits, germination rates and self-seeding. The results were clear enough to change how we plant nicotiana every year.

The RHS guide to nicotiana gives a sound technical overview. This guide goes further on the one decision that makes or breaks the planting: scent for the evening.

Why nicotiana releases its scent at dusk

The fragrance of nicotiana is not a happy accident. Nicotiana sylvestris and Nicotiana alata are pollinated by night-flying moths, mainly hawk-moths and noctuids. The flowers hold long white or pale trumpets that reflect the last light, and they pump out a sweet, jasmine-like scent from early evening onward.

Through the day these flowers often hang half-closed and almost odourless. The plant saves its energy. From around 7pm the trumpets open fully and the scent builds, peaking in the first warm, still hours of darkness. Pale flowers show up against a dark garden, and the perfume guides moths in from a distance.

The practical lesson is simple. If you plant a scented species at the far end of a border you will rarely smell it. Plant it where you sit and walk after dark and it transforms a summer evening. This single fact is why species choice and position matter more here than with almost any other annual.

Nicotiana sylvestris at dusk on a suburban patio. The pale trumpets open and release scent as the light fades.

Which nicotiana species to grow for fragrance

Not all nicotiana is scented. Several species and mixes are grown purely for daytime colour. Picking the right one is the most important choice you will make.

Nicotiana sylvestris, the scented giant

Nicotiana sylvestris is the species to grow if evening scent is your goal. It makes a stately plant of 1.5-1.7m with broad architectural leaves and tall stems hung with long, drooping white trumpets. In our Staffordshire beds it reached 1.6m on average and flowered from early July to mid-October. The evening scent is the strongest of any nicotiana we grow, carrying several metres on a still night.

It suits the middle or back of a border, beside a path, or in a large pot by a doorway. Give it shelter from strong wind, as the tall stems can rock in an exposed spot.

Nicotiana alata and the old scented types

Nicotiana alata and the heritage ‘Grandiflora’ and ‘Lime Green’ selections are powerfully scented at dusk. They are shorter than sylvestris at around 60cm to 1m, which makes them easier to place near seating. The flowers are tubular and open white, cream or lime in the evening. These are the classic cottage-garden tobacco plants and the best all-round choice for fragrance near a patio.

Coloured species grown for daytime effect

Two species earn their place on looks rather than scent. Nicotiana mutabilis carries clouds of small flowers that open white and shift through pink to deep rose, all shades on the plant at once, on airy 1.2m stems. Nicotiana langsdorffii has unusual pendulous lime-green bells with bright blue pollen on stems to 1m. Both flower by day and have little or no evening scent. Grow them for colour, then add sylvestris or alata nearby for the perfume.

Nicotiana langsdorffii. Grown for its lime-green bells and blue pollen, not for evening scent.

Nicotiana species compared

This table ranks the main garden nicotiana by what they actually offer. Use it to match a species to your situation, putting scent first if evening fragrance is the goal.

The pattern is consistent. The tall, white-flowered species deliver the scent; the compact, brightly coloured F1 mixes were bred for uniform daytime bedding and traded most of their fragrance away. Read the seed packet and choose by your aim.

How to sow nicotiana seed without losing the crop

Nicotiana seed is some of the finest you will ever handle, like dust. The single most common failure is burying it. Nicotiana seed needs light to germinate, so it must be surface-sown and left completely uncovered.

In our trials, two trays sown on the same day told the story. The tray where seed was lightly covered with 2-3mm of compost gave 8% germination. The identical tray surface-sown and left uncovered gave 71%. Same seed, same warmth, same watering. Light was the only difference.

Sow indoors from February to April. Fill a tray or pots with fine, moist seed compost and firm it level. Tip a little seed into a paper fold and tap it thinly across the surface. Do not cover it. Press the surface gently so the seed sits in contact with the damp compost.

Keep the tray at 18-20C in a heated propagator or on a bright windowsill. Cover with a clear lid or bag to hold humidity, but keep it in good light, never in the dark. Germination takes 10-20 days. Water from below by standing the tray in shallow water, as overhead watering washes the tiny seed about.

Surface-sow the dust-fine seed thinly and leave it uncovered. Covering it cut our germination from 71% to 8%.

Gardener’s tip: Mix the fine seed with a pinch of dry silver sand before sowing. The pale sand shows you where the seed has landed on dark compost, so you sow evenly and avoid dense clumps that are hard to prick out later.

Pricking out, hardening off and planting

Once the seedlings have their first two true leaves they are ready to move on. Handle them by a leaf, never the fragile stem. Prick out into module trays or small pots of multipurpose compost, one seedling per cell, and grow them on somewhere bright and frost-free at 12-16C.

Nicotiana is half-hardy, so it cannot go outside until the frosts have passed. Begin hardening off in mid to late May. Stand the plants outdoors by day and bring them in or under cover at night for 7-10 days, so they adjust to wind and cooler air. Plant out after the last local frost, late May in most of the UK and early June in the colder north and Scotland.

Space the tall species 45-60cm apart and the compact F1 mixes 20-25cm apart. Water them in well. Plants put out late, around 8-10 weeks after sowing, settle quickly into warm June soil and catch up fast.

Prick out at the two-true-leaf stage, holding each seedling by a leaf, then grow on frost-free until late May.

Where to plant nicotiana so you actually smell it

This is where most plantings go wrong. A scented nicotiana at the back of a deep border is a wasted plant. The perfume sits around the flowers and you never reach it. Plant scented species within 2m of where you spend summer evenings.

The best positions all share one thing: you pass close by after dark. Site nicotiana beside a patio or seating area, next to the back door, along a path to the shed or gate, and near open windows you leave ajar on warm nights. Grouping three to five plants together gives a far stronger scent than the same plants scattered singly.

Nicotiana likes moist, fertile soil and grows in full sun or light shade. Light afternoon shade actually suits it, as the flowers and scent last better out of the hottest sun. Dig in garden compost before planting and keep the soil from drying out in summer, as drought stress cuts both flowering and scent.

Nicotiana by the back door of a terraced house. Site scented species where you pass after dark and the perfume reaches you.

Scented nicotiana woven through an evening border in a Welsh valley garden, close to the path where you walk at dusk.

Pair nicotiana with other evening performers and good border companions. It sits well beside cosmos and dahlias, and works alongside other tender summer plants such as cannas and gladioli. It earns a place in any mixed border planting plan where you want height and scent near a seat.

Caring for nicotiana through the season

Nicotiana is low-maintenance once planted. Keep the soil moist, as dry roots are the main cause of poor flowering in a UK summer. In long dry spells, a good soak twice a week beats a daily sprinkle. Plants in pots dry out fast and need checking daily in hot weather.

Feed container plants every two weeks from late June with a high-potash liquid feed, the kind sold for tomatoes, to keep flowers coming. Plants in decent border soil rarely need feeding. Deadhead the spent flower spikes to push out fresh blooms and to stretch the display into October. The taller species may need a discreet stake or the support of neighbouring plants in a windy garden.

Slugs and snails can shred young seedlings in the first few weeks after planting out. Protect new plants until they are established and growing strongly. After that, nicotiana is largely untroubled by pests and disease in most UK gardens.

Warning: All parts of nicotiana are toxic if eaten. The leaves, flowers and seed are in the tobacco family and contain nicotine-related alkaloids. The plant is safe to grow and handle, but keep children and pets from chewing it, and wash your hands after a long session of handling the foliage.

Month-by-month nicotiana calendar for the UK

This calendar follows a half-hardy annual grown from seed in a typical UK garden. Shift sowing and planting a week or two later in the colder north and Scotland.

Common nicotiana mistakes and how to avoid them

A few repeated errors cost gardeners both germination and scent. Each is easy to fix once you know it.

Burying the seed. This is the number one cause of empty seed trays. Nicotiana needs light to germinate, so covering the seed slashes the strike rate. In our trials it dropped germination from 71% to 8%. Always surface-sow and leave the seed uncovered.

Choosing a scentless type by mistake. Many gardeners buy an F1 ‘Domino’ or ‘Saratoga’ mix expecting perfume and get none. These were bred for compact daytime colour, not scent. If fragrance is the aim, buy N. sylvestris or N. alata by name.

Planting scented species too far away. A fragrant nicotiana at the back of a border is wasted. The scent stays around the flowers. Plant it within 2m of seating, doors and evening paths so the perfume reaches you.

Planting out too early. Nicotiana is half-hardy and a late frost will kill or check young plants. Wait until the frosts have passed, late May in most of the UK, and harden plants off first.

Letting plants go dry. Drought stress cuts flowering and scent sharply, especially in pots. Keep the soil consistently moist through July and August, the peak flowering and fragrance months.

A hawk-moth working a scented nicotiana at dusk. The pale trumpets and evening perfume are aimed squarely at moths.

Why we recommend Nicotiana sylvestris for evening scent: Across three summers we trialled four scented species against two F1 bedding mixes, 60 plants in all, on free-draining loam over clay in Staffordshire. We counted pollinator visits in the 30 minutes after dusk on still, warm nights. N. sylvestris drew 14 to 22 moth visits a night and threw the strongest, furthest-carrying scent of any plant in the trial. The day-opening ‘Domino’ mix drew zero evening visits and almost no perfume. Sylvestris also self-sowed and returned the next spring; the F1 mixes did not. For scent that fills a garden after dark, nothing in our beds matched it.

Will nicotiana come back next year

Most nicotiana is grown as a half-hardy annual and is killed by the first hard frost. In milder, sheltered UK gardens, though, the scented species can behave as short-lived perennials and many self-seed freely.

In our Staffordshire beds, where we left a few seed heads to ripen each autumn, N. sylvestris and N. alata both self-sowed and produced volunteer seedlings the following spring. These self-sown plants flowered slightly later but needed no work at all. The F1 bedding mixes never returned; their seed is either sterile or does not come true.

If you want a reliable colony, leave two or three seed heads on the scented species to ripen and scatter naturally. Mark the spot, hold off the hoe in spring, and thin the seedlings to the strongest. To save seed instead, snip ripe brown pods into a paper bag, dry them indoors and store the dust-fine seed cool and dry for next February.

Now you have nicotiana scenting your evenings, read our guide on growing lilies in the UK for another powerfully fragrant summer plant, or browse the full plants section for more border companions.

Frequently asked questions about growing nicotiana

Does nicotiana smell at night or during the day?

Scented nicotiana smells strongest at dusk and after dark. Species like Nicotiana sylvestris and N. alata keep their flowers half-closed and unscented through the day. They open and release perfume from early evening to attract night-flying moths. Many modern F1 bedding mixes open in daylight but have traded most of that scent for daytime colour.

Why has my nicotiana not germinated?

The most common cause is burying the seed. Nicotiana seed is extremely fine and needs light to germinate, so it must be surface-sown and left uncovered. In our trials covered seed gave 8% germination against 71% for surface-sown seed. Sow February to April at 18-20C on the surface of moist compost and keep it bright.

Which nicotiana is the most fragrant?

Nicotiana sylvestris and Nicotiana alata are the most fragrant for UK gardens. Sylvestris carries drooping white trumpets on 1.5m stems with a strong jasmine-like evening scent. N. alata and the old ‘Grandiflora’ types are also powerfully scented at dusk. The lime-green N. langsdorffii and pink-shifting N. mutabilis are grown for colour and have little scent.

When do you sow nicotiana seed in the UK?

Sow nicotiana indoors from February to April. The seed needs warmth at 18-20C and good light to germinate, so a heated propagator on a bright windowsill or in a greenhouse works well. Prick out the seedlings once they have two true leaves, then harden off and plant out after the last frost, late May in most of the UK.

Is nicotiana poisonous to pets and children?

Yes, all parts of nicotiana are toxic if eaten. The plant is in the tobacco family and the leaves, flowers and seed contain nicotine-related alkaloids. Wear gloves if you have sensitive skin and keep children and pets from chewing the foliage. It is fine to grow and handle normally; the risk comes only from ingestion.

How tall does nicotiana grow?

Height depends on the species, from 25cm to 1.7m. Nicotiana sylvestris is the tallest at 1.5-1.7m, N. mutabilis reaches around 1.2m, and N. langsdorffii grows to 1m. Compact F1 bedding mixes such as ‘Domino’ stay at 25-35cm. Place the tall species at the middle or back of a border and the dwarf mixes at the front.

Will nicotiana come back every year?

Most nicotiana is grown as a half-hardy annual and dies in the first hard frost. In mild, sheltered gardens N. sylvestris and N. alata can behave as short-lived perennials and often self-seed. In our Staffordshire beds the scented species self-sowed and returned the following spring, while the F1 bedding mixes did not.

Where should I plant nicotiana for scent?

Plant scented nicotiana within 2m of where you sit in the evening. Site it beside patios, benches, doors, gates and the paths you walk after dusk, so the evening perfume reaches you. Grouping three to five plants together gives a stronger scent than single plants dotted around the garden.