Last Sigh of Summer

The glory of fall has arrived on Crowley’s Ridge! These days I find myself raising my eyes often from my work to gaze in wonder at the vivid scarlet of a sumac, or the blaze of gold in the hickory on the hill, or the blue, blue, blue of the autumn sky.

My flowerbeds are mostly ragtag foliage now but there is one last sigh of summer – Nicotiana alata or flowering tobacco. Some time in the summer months I read that it attracts moths, mostly lunas, which I dearly love, so I bought the first one I came across. I obviously didn’t have my head on straight because I know that luna moths don’t feed at all as adults. They don’t even have mouthparts but emerge from their cocoons only to mate and die within a week.

Nicotiana alata

Doing a little research on flowering tobacco before my purchase would have been wise too as mine have little scent, but I love their colors, the bright, almost neon red and the pale rose. I later read that the newer varieties, which are much more colorful, don’t have the fragrance of the old-fashioned ones. Next year I’ll look for the unimproved white variety for its fragrance but I’ll also plant the colorful ones for their beauty!