Illustration
Purple Flowering Tobacco
Nicotiana alata
Purple Flowering Tobacco blooms from June through September.
Months here are Northern Hemisphere months; in the Southern Hemisphere, shift them by six months.
Growing Purple Flowering Tobacco
Plant it in part sun. It prefers moderate water. It is hardy in USDA zones 10–11. Expect it to reach about 3 ft tall and 1 ft wide at maturity, in roughly 1 year (a house reading).
Is Purple Flowering Tobacco toxic to dogs?
- Listed as toxic to dogs by Royal Horticultural Society.
- Not yet checked for cats.
- Listed as poisonous to people by Royal Horticultural Society.
Lists differ and none is complete. If a pet eats a plant and seems unwell, call a veterinarian or a pet poison helpline.
What was checked
Nine facts were checked against named botanical sources, each recorded beside the sources that carried it: mature height and spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color, the trait tags, and years to mature size, which rests on a recorded house rule where no publisher states one and is marked so. Soil, diseases, pests, toxicity and the plant's own names have not yet been read for this plant, and its trait tags are the ones a feature uses rather than every word a page prints. Each fact above carries its own mark. The planting, spacing and size sections are derived from these checked facts by a fixed rule, not checked separately, and the plant type is the library's own classification.
When to plant Purple Flowering Tobacco
Wait until all danger of frost has passed, then plant out Purple Flowering Tobacco into warm soil; in most zones that means late spring. Planted then, it flowers from June to September.
Month-by-month timing for your zone is on the planting calendar; if you garden near zone 10, the middle of this plant's hardy range, start with zone 10 in January. Derived from the plant's category, zones and bloom months plus typical zone frost dates, not checked separately.
How big does Purple Flowering Tobacco get?
3 fttall5 ft 7 inan adult1 ftwideSee Purple Flowering Tobacco in a garden plan: the planner shows it in 3D beside everything else you add, growing toward this size over the years.
How far apart to plant Purple Flowering Tobacco
Derived from the mature spread above by a fixed rule, not checked separately: spacing is the spread, center to center.
Space Purple Flowering Tobacco about 1 ft apart, center to center, so each plant has room to reach its full width.
Add Purple Flowering Tobacco to a garden plan and the planner draws it at its full width, so you see the spacing before you buy.
Where these facts come from
Purple Flowering Tobacco's height, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color and trait tags were checked against 6 published sources on October 27, 2026. Each one is linked below with every fact it carried, which can include a fact this page still marks as not yet checked, because a source carrying a value is not the same as the value being held to the standard. Facts not in that list, and the planting, spacing and size sections, are not covered by these sources.
- NC State Extensionheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color and trait tags
- Missouri Botanical Gardenheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water and bloom months and color
- University of Illinois ExtensionIllinois Extensionheight, sun, water, bloom months and color and trait tags
- plantdatabase.kpu.caKwantlen Polytechnic Universityheight, spread, sun and bloom months and color
- Chicago Botanic Gardenbloom months and color
- RHSRoyal Horticultural Societysun
How the checking works, and what each standard covers, is on the verified plants page.
Good to know about Purple Flowering Tobacco
Curated from university extensions, botanic gardens and other primary sources, with the source named on every note.
Safety
Poisonous: every part holds nicotine, a neurotoxin. Toxic to dogs, cats, horses; keep it away from children, pets, and grazing animals. NC State rates the poison severity High. per ASPCA and NC State
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Design a garden with this
Drop this plant onto a 3D plan, see how it fills in, and watch your whole garden bloom across the year.