Central Virginia Organic Gardener

"And 'tis my faith that every flower enjoys the air it breathes." - William Wordsworth, 1798

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Mystery Plant #3

Can anyone identify this plant?  Here is mystery plant #3.  Grown extensively through the south, the leaves are toxic to all sorts of bugs (and early organic growers used it as an organic insecticide).
Happy guessing!  Happy gardening!  Congratulations to Madeline and Celeste: it is tobacco!

5 comments:

Anita said...

I guess poison ivy would be too easy of an answer. :)

Judy Thomas said...

Poison ivy is a vine with cluster of three leaves together, hence the old warning rhyme: "leaflets three, stay away from me." The plant pictured is tobacco. Congrats to Madeline and Celeste for identifying it!

Anonymous said...

Wow, tobacco? We have a plant in our garden that lookssimilar, but I have no idea what it is. It's only about two feet tall, so I doubt it's tobacco.

I just discovered your blog, by the way. We bought a house that has a huge number of ornamental plants, and we've no idea what most of them are or how to care for them. We live in Troy (Louisa, actually), very near Zion Crossroads, so I am hoping to learn a great deal of useful information from reading your old posts.

Anonymous said...

Wow, tobacco? We have a plant in our garden that lookssimilar, but I have no idea what it is. It's only about two feet tall, so I doubt it's tobacco.

I just discovered your blog, by the way. We bought a house that has a huge number of ornamental plants, and we've no idea what most of them are or how to care for them. We live in Troy (Louisa, actually), very near Zion Crossroads, so I am hoping to learn a great deal of useful information from reading your old posts.

Judy Thomas said...

Dear Louisa gardener,
Glad you like the blog. Many plant have a growth pattern similar to tobacco, though few get as big. I wonder if you have mullein? If it develops yellow flowers, which attract a lot of bees. Mullein is pretty and some are now growing it as an ornamental.