Guide to growing garden plants - Arnica (Mountain Snuff)
The common names for the Hardy perennial Arnica include Mountain snuff and Mountain tobacco.
It typically flowers in the Summer.
Description of Mountain Snuff - Arnica
Arnica plants are variable in size, smaller ones are low growing and can be used in rockeries. The flowers are daisy like in nature and have large yellow or orange flowers with prominent centres. They have narrow grey aromatic leaves.
How to grow Mountain Snuff - Arnica
It is best to sow fresh Arnica seed outdoors as soon as it is available in the late summer. The seed should be covered. If you intend to start the plants indoors, then they should be grown for a full season before transplanting outdoors. The seeds should be planted into individual pots and lightly covered with soil; they should then be germinated for about a month at a temperature of 13 degrees Celsius. Seedlings should be planted out at a spacing of 30 to 40 cm in an area that will be subjected to full sunlight after the last frost of spring. They should be planted into a soil that is both moist and well drained, ideally with a pH of between 5 and 6.5. Mountain tobacco does not like highly nitrogenous soils.
Caring for Mountain Tobacco
Mountain tobacco / snuff plants are easy to look after. The most important thing is not to give them too much nitrogen as this will result in leggy plants. They can be propagated by division in the spring or autumn; alternatively cuttings can be taken from Arnica in the summer.