Wild Tobacco

Nicotiana rustica

Wild tobacco has been used medicinally and ceremonially among Indigenous communities across Turtle Island for centuries. With a very high nicotine content, it's broad leaves can be dried for consumption, and the plant acts as a natural pesticide in the garden. A bushy plant growing up to five-feet tall, the small buttery yellow flowers are lightly scented and best left on the plant to be enjoyed. Easy to grow, preferring full or partial sun, it is a prolific self-seeder that is somewhat heat and drought tolerant.

40% of the grower's profit from the sale of these seeds will go to the Elders Program at the Aboriginal Mother Center Society, in Vancouver, in order to facilitate the decolonizing of bridges to non-Indigenous communities.

Direct sow in spring, pressing into the surface of the soil. Keep the soil lightly moist until germination, which usually occurs within 10-20 days. Or start indoors 6-8 weeks before the last frost of spring. Keep seedlings moist until they become established.