More is better.
For the love of wanton annuals. (C) Lorene Edwards Forkner
I like to turn hardy annuals loose in my garden, for the flowers of course, but just as much for the chance to observe how subsequent generations play out. It’s not often we get to watch evolution in real time. Calendula, poppies, larkspur, love-in-a-mist, and clarkia, to name but a few, are hardy annuals that flourish in Pacific Northwest gardens. Not only that, their blossoms provide valuable pollen and nectar for insects, birds, and butterflies that animate the garden.
But in recent years I’ve grown especially attached to nasturtiums. Good ole nasturtiums. They wantonly seed themselves around the backyard and always seem to find the perfect spot to pair with more permanent plantings. I’ve come to rely on “nasties” to fill in the corners and crevices of my garden’s weak spots.
Brilliant — or subtle — nasturtium blossoms and their round matte leaves artlessly insinuate themselves among more static perennials and fill the gaps between rocks in the gabion bench, creating careless but ideal compositions that go beyond heavy-handed “design” considerations. It’s like real life — you just can’t make this stuff up. It’s also a valuable lesson in loosening my grip on the garden.
Long ago I planted ‘Tip Top Mahogany’ for its deep claret-colored blossoms and limey-green foliage. ‘Black Velvet’ has even deeper petals, more burgundy than pinot, with slightly blue green leaves. Very chic, almost prim and proper in a fashionable LBD sort of way.
This bronze nasturtium seeding showed up in the garden one year. (c) Lorene Edwards Forkner
Of course, subsequent generations have a mind of their own — don’t they always. These days plenty of straight Tropaeolum majus flowers, glaringly orange, accompany the occasional wine colored bloom. Garden variety meets designer bloom with an impact greater than any I could orchestrate.
Nasturtium ‘Purple Emperor”
After reading about less common varieties in Arthur Parkinson’s wonderful book, “The Flower Yard” I went on a search, no a quest for ‘Purple Emperor.’ Being the color nerd that I am, I couldn’t resist the promise of greyed mauve blooms. Then again, one year my garden served up a plant with delicious copper bronze blossoms — I saved seeds but can only hope the blooms come true.
Oh yes, I know what you’re thinking. What about all the disgusting aphids? I can truthfully say, some years they never show up. Only in hindsight do I appreciate that simple grace. The years when the little black, sesame-seeded pests proliferate I simply tear out the entire mess and await the next wave to raise its colorful head.
In strong summer sun ‘Purple Emperor’ fades to a lovely greyed mauve.
Nasturtium seed sources:
Renee’s Garden
Eden Brothers
Select Seeds
Nasturtiums have been a favorite since childhood– their ease of cultivation plus their dog-like qualities of unconditional love, exuberance and cheerfulness, (not to mention their grace in a vase, or a salad) make them a stalwart garden friend. I love their soft but penetratingly peppery fragrance, and the way their foliage catches and holds moisture and light.I’ve pickled their seeds, munched on their leaves and made countless bouquets with them. They’re the first seeds I ever planted and 70+ years on, continue to delight.
childhood nasturtiums! we used to pick (probably far too many) blooms to bite the end off the spurs and suck that tiny drop of sweet nectar.
I was smitten with nasturtiums after seeing a photo of Monet’s garden with huge swaths of nasturtiums lining the pathways. Alas, in my zone we use nasturtiums as a trap plant for the dreaded cabbage butterfly. Occasionally we get a bloom to enjoy.
art + gardens = one of my favorites!
Here in southeast VA, they look nice until July. Then they turn spindly and brown, even if I grow them in afternoon shade. Come September, however, they recover and start blooming again. I guess they don’t like our hot and humid summers.
that makes sense… sometimes the heat never shows up in a PNW summer. Cool season tho — we’ve got that DOWN!
I am guessing many would find your bronze nasturtium a turn off, but I am weak in the knees looking at it! I have planting to do today, but this post has made me determined to go and buy even just one plant to tuck in somewhere.
I definitely have a “thing” for brown flowers. Shop away… it’s right there in the title: MORE flowers
More than the nasturtiums themselves, I love your bronze color study. Just beautiful.
Thank you!!! Is this “my” Ann of Fremont Gardens fame? xo
Oh, to have nasturtiums reseed. What joy. Perhaps someone should do a ‘flavor profile’ of those luscious blooms. You rock with the color profile. . . ‘More burgundy than Pinot’. Is it too early for wine?
Don’t forget — wine is plant based!
Oh, good! Another Lorene-o-Gram . . . a wonderful combination of good writing and garden insights! She would make a wonderful addition to the stable of regular writers of GardenRant (hint, hint).
Whatever happened with/to the hackers who hijacked your Instagram account? If captured, were red hot pokers involved, (not the Kniphofia kind), used in punishing them?
Hi John, in fact I’m thrilled to be a “regular”(?) member of the Garden Rant stable — its just that I only post once a month. As for the cretins who took down my IG account, I try to not grant them space in my head. The experience was a very sharp reminder of what i’ve said for so long: The heart of my daily practice in observation and color is the point — process vs. outcome. But I love it when people come across my new account, @seeing_color_in_the_garden, and exclaim, “I found you!.” Who doesn’t want to be found~