Nigella ‘Persian Jewels’ or ‘Love-In-A-Mist’ bears delicate, old-fashioned flowers of red, rose pink, blue, deep violet-blue and white open a pale colour but mature to their intense, pure shades, each backed by a wispy, bright green ruff. Viewing the flowers from afar these flowers look as though they are floating in a mist. One of the most interesting shaped flowers you will ever see, both for its blooms and attractive fennel-like foliage.

Love-in-a-mist grows naturally in rocky places native to Europe and North Africa, however, these flowers are well suited for traditional cottage garden settings or plant in a meadow where the soil is a little on the dry side and not too rich. It is a charming, hardy, self-sowing annual, flowering the same year, that’s very much at home in any garden. It is also a very popular cut flower and can be dried for winter decoration.