Tobacco Plant

    I have never been a fan of tobacco.  As a child, going to church, once a month we kids were given the opportunity to escape the boring sermon, by going to an anti-alcohol and tobacco program sponsored by the LTL (Loyal Temperance League) a branch of the WCTU (Women’s Christian Temperance Union).  Not only did we get out of the long church service, but we were treated with cookies and Kool-Aid.  The elderly women who ran the LTL told us kids about the dangers of alcohol and tobacco, and in my case, the lessons were very effective because I don’t drink or smoke.  

    One time at LTL when we were given the opportunity to make anti-smoking posters, I made one using this rhyme I had heard and remembered: 

    “Tobacco is a nasty weed,

    The Devil sows the seed,

    It soils you pockets, scents your clothes,

    and makes a chimney of your nose.”

    Anyway, last spring at the Dunster Mother’s Day Sale, I came upon a table where Glenda was selling tobacco bedding plants.  That surprised me because I didn’t really know tobacco plants could even grow up here in Central Interior, BC.  I wasn’t interested in them until Glenda told me they produced a nice flower, so I bought a plant and planted it in my garden.

    I have been surprised at how quickly it grew and how tall it got.  It is over 6 ft (1.8 m) tall and the has a cluster of flowers on the top.  With its large broad leaves, the tall tobacco plant does make a nice vertical feature in the garden.  At present only one flower of the cluster has opened (photo below).

    I haven’t changed my opinion about tobacco and so when the flowers are done blooming, I will put the tobacco plant in the compost pile.  I guess I need to shred the plant first to make sure it quickly composts.  Even if I knew someone who smoked, I wouldn’t give them the  leaves, knowing how unhealthy tobacco is.

View my paintings:  davidmarchant2.ca