Nasturtiums
tropaeolum majus
Tropaeolaceae
Nasturtium Family

AKA
nasturtium
garden nasturtium
Indian cress

Annual

Flower Meaning: Patriotism

Usage
The dwarf, bushy nasturtiums add rainbows
of cheerful color in annual beds and borders.
Use the trailing forms on low fences or trellises,
on a gravelly or sandy slope, or in a hanging container.

Many gardeners include nasturtiums in the salad garden.
Nasturtiums are attacked by aphids, and organic gardeners like to plant lots
of them all around the vegetable patch to serve as aphid "lures."

Nasturtium flowers, leaves and immatureseed pods have a tangy taste like
water cress, and the colorful flowers really brighten up a green salad.
Add some nasturtium flowers to an vinegar. herb Immature pods can be pickled.
Mature seeds can be roasted for eating out of hand or used like black pepper.

Nasturtiums are perfect for introducing kids (and beginners of any age) to gardening.
Seeds are very large making them easy for smaller children to manipulate.

Plants germinate quickly, grow rapidly and have large showy flowers.

The fact that they are edible (as opposed to toxic!!!!)
makes nasturtium the number one plant for budding gardeners.

Features
Nasturtiums are very easy to grow and the seeds
are large and easy for children to handle.
They are pretty, fairly long-lasting flowers and the young gardener will be proud
to make a arrangement of cut flowers or add them to the family's salad plate.

Hummingbirds insert their long bills into nasturtium flower spurs the nutritious nectar.
To sip, When they do this, they get some pollen on their faces and then they
do the nasturtium's bidding by delivering the pollen to another flower.
sc 4/23/00


CULINARY
CULTIVATE
MAGICK
USE


SOURCES
Amazing Vase
3rd Age Gardening
Neighborly Nasturtiums
Planting and Care
Valley Gardens
THE MANY SIDES TO NASTURTIUMS

Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs
by Scott Cunningham