The Friends had a stand at the Dundee Flower & Food Festival from 1-3 September. A great opportunity for members to volunteer to raise awareness of the Garden, the Botanic Garden Endowment Trust, and the Friends. Bob Sutherland from the Garden and his colleagues created a great display, which earned a Silver Gilt Medal certificate.

Plant of the month September 2017

Nicotiana mutabilis (Tobacco plant)
Family: Solanaceae
Origin: Brazil
Annual
Location: Evolution Garden

Nicotiana can be annuals, biennials, perennials or shrubs, with simple, alternate leaves and tubular or salver-shaped, often fragrant flowers borne in racemes or panicles in summer or autumn. N. mutabilis is an upright half-hardy annual to 1.5m tall with a basal rosette of large, oval leaves. In summer, airy clouds of trumpet-shaped flowers are borne on branching stems changing colour as they age from white through shades of pink. Good for cut flowers, it grows best in fertile soil in full sun. All parts of the plant are toxic.