America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking
Nasturtium
Click on each photograph
taken at the Norwood Gardens to enlarge.
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| STORYTELLER Seed Packet. Copyright 2013 Marcia Norwood |
I tried to grow nasturtiums in a shady spot, and got weak spindly vines and zero blooms.
Nasturtiums bloomed abundantly when I planted seeds in a sunny location. They are available in either spreading (mounding) or climbing vines.
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| Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood |
"My green thumb came only
as a result of the mistakes I made
while learning to see things
from the plant's point of view."
H. Fred Ale
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| Gathering Nasturtiums. Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood |
Nasturtium leaves and flowers are edible.
Many chefs garnish their entrees with flower blossoms for a touch of elegance. Use them as a garnish on a plate or jazz up salads.
Flower cookery has been traced back to the Chinese, Middle Eastern, and Indian cultures and back to Roman times. Edible flowers were especially popular during Queen Victoria's reign.
Caution!
Not every flower in the garden is edible.
Sampling some flowers can make you very - very sick.
- Never eat flowers or plants that have pesticides or other chemicals on any part of the plant.
- Never harvest flowers that grow by the roadside.
- Identify the flower exactly, and only eat the edible flower parts.
- Use flowers sparingly in recipes due to digestive complications that can occur. (Flowers have a taste that's similar to the leaf, but spicier.)
Edible Flower Chart
CLICK on this link, or COPY and PASTE the link to your browser:
http://homecooking.about.com/library/weekly/blflowers.htm
Click on each photograph
taken at the Norwood Gardens to enlarge.
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| Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood |
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| Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood |
I use pressed flowers as decorations in homemade soaps, and in scrapbook projects...like handmade cards and bookmarks.
Pressed flowers make beautiful framed art.
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| Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood |
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| Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood |
Plant nasturtiums in large containers, and they will spill over the sides.
Plant them alongside wide
paths to soften the sides for a romantic look.
Use nasturtiums to
brighten a rock garden or between paving stones.
Plant them at the edges
of beds and borders to fill in between other plants and add soft,
flowing color.
Train climbing types up trellises or alongside fences.
Nasturtiums have beautiful flowers that attract butterflies.
The plants are drought tolerant and deer resistant, and they are easy to grow.
Where's a sunny spot in your garden that needs a splash of vivid, radiant color?
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| Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood |
The Gossips
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
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| Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood |
A rose in my garden, the sweetest and fairest,
Was hanging her head through the long golden hours;
And early one morning I saw her tears falling,
And heard a low gossiping talk in the bowers.
The yellow Nasturtium, a spinster all faded,
Was telling a Lily what ailed the poor Rose:
"That wild roving Bee who was hanging about her,
Has jilted her squarely, as everyone knows..."
Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood
GUESTS
Celia Laighton Thaxter
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| Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood |
Sunflower tall and hollyhock,
that wave in the wind together,
Corn-flower, poppy, and marigold,
blossoming fair and fine,
Delicate sweet-peas,
glowing bright in the quiet autumn weather,
While over the fence, on fire with bloom,
climbs the nasturtium vine!
Quaint little wilderness of flowers, straggling hither and thither -
morning-glories tangled about the larkspur gone to seed,
Scarlet runners that burst all bounds, and wander, heaven knows whither,
And lilac spikes of bergamot, as thick as any weed.
And oh, the bees and the butterflies, the humming-birds and sparrows,
That over the garden waver and chirp and flutter the livelong day!
Humming-birds, that dart in the sun like green and golden arrows,
Butterflies like loosened flowers blown off by the wind in play.
Look at the red nasturtium flower, drooping, bending, and swaying;
Out the gold-banded humble-bee breaks and goes booming anew!
Hark, what the sweet-voiced fledgling sparrows
low to themselves are saying,
Pecking my golden oats where the corn-flowers gleam so blue!
Welcome, a thousand times welcome, ye dear and delicate neighbors -
Bird and bee and butterfly, and humming-bird fairy fine!
Proud am I to offer you a field for your graceful labors;
All the honey and all the seeds are yours in this garden of mine.
I sit on the door-step and watch you. Beyond lies the infinite ocean,
Sparkling, shimmering, whispering, rocking itself to rest;
And the world is full of perfume and color and beautiful motion,
And each new hour of this sweet day the happiest seems and best.
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| Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood |
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