PlantFiles: Nemesia
Nemesia fruticans 'Opal Innocence'

Love this plant! We hadn't grown it before so I wasn't sure what to expect in our zone 5, high altitude, semi-arid climate. We planted about 4 of these in a container in a shady spot off our deck. They have bloomed profusely all summer. The blooms are lovely with a beautiful, strong scent. Now we are a full week into October and have had a few hard frosts which pretty much did in the other annuals, but our little nemesias are still green and blooming. This plant has earned a spot on our list of favorites, and will have a permanent place in our garden!

I love these little beauties; and I agree - they certainly do take the heat. We had a record breaking hot summer with little rain. I watered faithfully, but many annuals just could not take the heat and wilted; but these just kept blooming. It's Sept. now, and they are still going strong even though I have become lazy about deadheading. Mine are planted in the ground.

I'd never heard of nemesias until this year. I was passing by my garden center's "specialty annuals" section and was captivated by the clover-like scent.

Since they were sold as specialties "Proven Winners" brand) I couldn't buy them by the flat, but I sure would love to! I purchased four 4" pots and planted them in a large containers. Then I read online that they hate hot weather and would wilt in the July sun!

We went on to have multiple heat waves (South Jersey - zone 6/7), and our deck faces the west with no protection from the hot afternoon sun. To my surprise the nemsias kept on going. It's now almost August and they're beautiful! I did water them once or twice each day and fed them about once a week - maybe that's why they performed so well.

That one container scents our entire deck during the day (I don't detect a fragrance at night, but that's when our brugmansias take over, anyway :-).

Next year I plan to get more and spread the containers all over the deck in between the brugs.

I've never grown this plant before; doing well so far. I purchased a couple 4 inch pots grown by Proven Winners about 1 month ago. It's been an unusually cold April here in zone 8, so I've kept them on a covered porch until the temp stays reliably above 40F at night. Despite that, they are blooming away. I planted them today in a window box facing East with some Lamium. Provided plant marker says: Zone 9-10, Upright growth, blooms from planting to hard frost, sun to part shade, fertilize regularly for best results, normal water needs; deadheading not necessary. Also, fragrant flowers, but I don't notice much scent. We'll see how they do by mid summer.