Is it true that petunias and tomatoes are related?
Yes, and so are a whole lot of other plants you wouldn't necessarily expect.
Most of us know by now that tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants and peppers are all closely related members of the Solanaceae (nightshade) family. So are tomatillos, ground cherries, garden huckleberries, petunias and nicotianas.
And then there are the bad boys.
Let's not forget that the nightshade family also includes datura, belladonna, deadly nightshade and tobacco. That's right, the same family of plants that gives us some of our most valuable food crops also gives us some of our nastiest toxins.
No wonder Europeans were slow in accepting tomatoes as a food crop. Why on Earth would anyone eat the fruit of a plant that's in the same family as deadly nightshade?
Because it tastes good, that's why, and because I have yet to hear of anyone dying from tomato poisoning.
The nightshade family also produces the petunias and nicotianas which fill our gardens with beauty.
All members of this family are heat-loving and sun-loving.
They are also all susceptible to the dreaded tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), a nasty pathogen that can sweep like wildfire through any and all members of the nightshade family planted in your garden, causing stunted growth and wrinkled, yellowed leaves with nasty looking dead patches that get worse during hot, dry periods. It doesn't normally kill the plants, but it does make them unsightly and it does interfere with crop yields.
And since good looks are exactly why you put the petunias in your garden in the first place, TMV is not a welcome presence.
If you have any questions or comments, please send them to me at vanessa@gardenmuse.ca.
Posted: Feburary 18, 2011
