Golden Acre Home & Garden Centre's Plant Library

Group/Class:  Saratoga Series

Brand:  Syngenta Flowers

Description:

Bushy, well branched plants are heat tolerant and easy to grow; eye catching flowers are held upright on branches for maximum visual impact; perfect for sunny or shaded gardens, and makes a great accent plant in containers

Ornamental Features

Saratoga™ Mix Flowering Tobacco features showy fragrant cherry red star-shaped flowers with white overtones at the ends of the stems from early summer to mid fall. Its pointy leaves remain green in colour throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Saratoga™ Mix Flowering Tobacco is a dense herbaceous annual with a mounded form. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This plant will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and should not require much pruning, except when necessary, such as to remove dieback. It is a good choice for attracting hummingbirds to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Saratoga™ Mix Flowering Tobacco is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Saratoga™ Mix Flowering Tobacco will grow to be about 12 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 12 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 8 inches apart. Its foliage tends to remain dense right to the ground, not requiring facer plants in front. Although it's not a true annual, this fast-growing plant can be expected to behave as an annual in our climate if left outdoors over the winter, usually needing replacement the following year. As such, gardeners should take into consideration that it will perform differently than it would in its native habitat.

This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. This plant is a heavy feeder that requires frequent fertilizing throughout the growing season to perform at its best. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid, and parts of it are known to be toxic to humans and animals, so care should be exercised in planting it around children and pets. It can be propagated by cuttings; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.

Saratoga™ Mix Flowering Tobacco is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a mass of flowers against which the thriller plants stand out. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.