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Nicandra physalodes |
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| Common name |
shoe-fly plant |
| Family |
solanaceae |
| Life cycle |
annual |
| Flowers |
blue (summer) |
| Size |
4-6' |
| Light |
sun-part shade |
| Cultural notes |
ordinary garden soil |
From seed  |
germinate at room temperature; self-seeds
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Large, leafy annual, covered in powder-blue flowers in mid-late summer. We grew this once on purpose, and have had it in varying amount from reseeding in the following years. One year only a few smaller plants re-appeared - I guess I weeded them out too well. It's not appeared in recent years. If I ever wish to re-establish them in our garden, the key will be to find the right balance between rampant reseeding and wholesale removal...
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This plant used to grow in our garden, but it slipped away... About my plant portraits
PlantLinks to other web pages about Nicandra physalodes
Visitors to this page have left the following comments| Rhonda Wright | Apr 26, 2005 | I know you here this all the time, but I love your website. I can spend hours looking at all the unusual plants. Is the height on this actually 4-6"? It doesn't look giant.
This particular one stayed small, having self-seeded in a more shaded area. When properly grown, they get quite large. I'm sure I've seen 5' on mine in years past. |
| Jane | May 14, 2005 | We grew monster sized physalodes last summer, grew to over 5 feet! We have very little sun in a basement garden 200 yds from the sea in East Sussex. |
| Diana | Jul 15, 2005 | Rob,
I found one in my backyard in California and decided to let it grow. It's now about 8 feet tall in a part sunny location! |
| Newton | Jul 29, 2005 | My Shoe Fly Plants are 5' high, have blossomed well and now have lots of fruit. Can I use the fruit?
I don't think so. Although it's not been established that the plants or fruits are poisonous, most sources caution against consuming any part of the plant. For example, this page. |
| Beverly Wallis | Aug 21, 2005 | I have just moved and find I have a shoo-fly plant in a large pot in my yard. my yard. I live in Palmer, Alaska. I need to know how to store it for winter. I understand that it doesn't get as cold as other parts of Alaska here. Could you help me.
Nicandra is an annual, and will die back after it completes its seed cycle, no matter what the temperature. Make sure to collect some seed, and start some new plants in spring. |
| Susanlynne | Dec 04, 2005 | The Shoe Fly Plant is also a host plant to the lovely beautiful sphinx moths, also called hawk moths. Don't be surprised if you find the green or brown sphinx moths munching on the foliage, and please allow them some food. They will eat and then go to ground to make their cocoons in the soil. There are the beautiful hummingbird moths that you sometimes see flying during the daytime!
Susan |
| David Roberts | Sep 03, 2006 | We found a Shoo-fly plant in a small car park of our local N.Wales church, it has grownthrough a layer of bitumen road scapings which were placed on soil and used to make a surface for parking. the scapings were brought from close by, but no evidence of a Shoo-fly plant could be found in that area. |
| Stuart Smith | Jul 14, 2008 | I am the Community Police Officer for Saltburn-by-the-Sea, England and Vice-Chairman of Saltburn In Bloom. The town is entered in Northumbria in Bloom and Britain In Bloom Compititions. I have the Shoe Fly Plant in the Police Station gardens and it always gets positive comments by passers by. The best way of reproduction is to collect the seed in winter and re-seed in the spring indoors. |
| Jean Ford | Sep 12, 2008 | your site is very informative and helpful. I first had a Shoe fly plant given to me by a works colleque. They stayed small where i lived in Rochford Essex. Now I have moved and live in Shoeburyness near southend on sea. Planted my shoefly and to my supprise it is now approximately 4ft high and spreading. |
| Maryanne Starcher.....zone 5 | Sep 30, 2008 | This summer was my first attempt to try Nicandra Physalodes, Black Rod from J.L. Hudson Co. I live in a flood zone area and my garden soil is black carlisle muckland. My garden sat underwater for three days and I lost many hundreds of seeds. I ended up with only three Nicandra Physolodes, Black Rod
along with several other types of plants. The plants grew about six feet high
and about 4 feet wide. What beautiful flowers and seedpods. I just finished
collecting the seedpods for next year to replant and trade.
Plan to try the varigated nicandra physalodes, Splash of Cream, offered by
Fragrant Path and J.L. Hudson for next year. |
| Vera Moore ....zone 5b-6a | Apr 02, 2009 | I most have grown them in the wrong spot last year as mine only made it to about 2'! It was growing in a fairly packed garden too and am sure that made the difference right there. This year I plan on giving it lots of more space and think I'll place it with Polygonum orientalis (Kiss-Me-Over-The-Garden-Gate/KMOTGG). Both have been wintersown but nothing has germinated just yet; keeping fingers crossed :)
Also regarding Susanlynne's comment about the Sphinx/Hawk Moth. You might not care to let them live in the garden if you are also growing peppers/tomatoes. The larvae of these moths are the Tomato and Tobacco Hornworms (2 separate species) and will literally eat and or devastate a plant overnight. There are plenty other pretty hummingbird moth species that are not problem pests :)
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| Debbie Pedersen | May 16, 2009 | Hi, I have grown a whole pile of these beautiful plants from seed, and have now put them out on the sundeck. They seem to have whitish brown irregular shaped spots on the leaves and some of the lower leaves are either eaten or falling off. I have sprayed them with Genius oil for bugs. They have been getting a few days of afternoon sun. What do you think the problem is? Sounds like I should get them out of my greenhouse with tomatoes and peppers! So let me know what might be wrong.
thanks. |
| Cristine from Holland | Jun 05, 2009 | THE SEEDS ARE VERY POISONOUS! The plant is very easy and in an early stage recognizable by the black hairs on the leaves. |
| Rhea from Wiltshire,England | Jul 02, 2009 | This is our first year of growing them from seed,had to be very careful when we put them outside as the slugs love them!!Grown one in a tub but it's not so big as the ones in full sun in the ground,they are bushy & about 3ft so far!Very pretty & named in memory of one of our dear friends as we didn't know what is was called.The Little John plant aka shoefly plant!Thanks for all the info,very helpful. |
| Little Red Person | Jul 11, 2009 | Please remember that this plant is related to Deadly Nightshade, and not just the seeds but most of the plant is poisonous if injested [eaten!] - would suggest washing hands after handling. However, it really is a pretty plant to have in container pots in the garden. |
| Mel, Wrexham. | Sep 08, 2009 | I found these growing in our North Wales garden and didn't have a clue what they were until today, when a friend identified them for me. I had let them grow as I thought they were pretty, although they always had a poisonous look to them. Definitely keeping some seeds for next year. |
| Catherine DeCourcy | Sep 11, 2009 | Two of my Shoe Fly plants were recently MOVED in the hot month of July here in Minnesota (zone 3). I never thought they had a chance of making it through the transition. Next Tuesday their flowers are on the way to the St. Paul Garden Club Flower Show. I've decided to let them self seed anywhere they want----and I'll move them to the best location. |
| Al Bitterman | Oct 12, 2009 | from Victoria B.C. I transplanted this "weed" type from the boulevard shade to our backyard..it is now 8 feet tall.......I am 6 feet tall.......It to me is beautiful...If you want to see it....I can send one from my digital to your email address..OK??
Yes, when given just the right conditions, they can get quite large! We still get a few popping up here and there in wilder areas of the garden, even though I haven't purposely grown them in a few years. |
| DelGel | Jul 14, 2010 | I was given some seeds by a lady on the Isle of Wight and grew the plant for a few years. However, I recently heard how deadly poisonous it is, which would account for my finding a dead mouse draped over it one year. I no longer grow it! |
| Paul Edwin | Jul 16, 2010 | I have two distinct variants of Nicandra physalodes both of which have regularly seeded themselves in the garden for many years. One has dark blue, almost violet flowers with dark green leaves and purple stems, while the other has pale green stems, light blue flowers, and yellowish green leaves covered with tiny black dots. |
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May 18, 2008
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