I was rooked

I planted some "Love in a Mist" Nigella damascena several years ago at our old townhouse and loved the airy look of them. They readily re-seeded so they came up every year without replanting.

I was looking at some flower seeds on a Burpee rack and came upon some Nigella seeds that looked interesting. I wanted to recreate the look we had at the townhouse so I bought the seeds. I think the label said it was a "chocolate" Nigella. What came up was nothing like the pictures on the package if I remember correctly - I threw the package away. I went to the Burpee online seed catalog and I noticed they don't sell this seed anymore...I wonder why?

I think this is the herb Nigella sativa that they packaged and sold as a new variety of Nigella - see image from the motherherbs.com site only with dark brown styles rather than green. It does have an interesting blue line circling the flower near the base of the bloom like someone had inscribed a line with a ballpoint pen but that hardly makes up for a rather lackluster flower.

Anyway it was definitely not the lovely "Love in the Mist" I had planted before and I was sorely disappointed. Cheez, I expected a little better from Burpee. I guess I can collect the seeds and see if I can use it as a herb/spice. I should use it in place of kalonji seeds and mix it in with some basmati rice to make my version of a vegetarian biryani rice.

Here's more interesting information from the Wikipedia site.