I’ve been growing nasturtiums for years. The flowers always did okay for me, but the last two years they have been stunningly beautiful.
I planted them in the edge of our raised beds in the backyard and I’m guessing the rich dirt is what kicked them into overdrive in blooms and growth in general. I also planted them extra early in the spring and that seems to give them a head start on the growing season.
The leaves of nasturtiums are as pretty as the blooms if you ask me. I love the cheery nodding green circles. I love the way a drop of water ponds up on the leaves and rolls around like a diamond sparkling in the light.
Beauty isn’t all nasturtiums offer, they are also edible. I’ve never tried cooking with them, but often grab a leaf or bloom to eat as I work in the garden. The taste is unique. Sort of spicy like a radish or even horseradish.
Last summer Chatter and I learned nasturtiums can also be used medicinally. The leaves, blooms, and seeds have properties similar to antibiotics.
Chatter made us a few jars of nasturtium tincture. When the whole family took sick during the winter we all dosed ourselves with the medicine in the hopes of warding off the bad cold we had. Let me tell you the tincture was one of the vilest things I’ve ever tasted! I don’t know how something that tastes so pleasant straight from the plant could become so vile when mixed with alcohol. Chatter and I thought the tincture helped lessen our symptoms, but The Deer Hunter and Chitter wasn’t so sure. But they didn’t drink as much of the vile stuff as we did 🙂
The flowers come in varying colors. I love them all, but this year Chitter planted a pink one that is especially pretty.
If you like flowers and you’ve never grown nasturtiums I highly recommend them. Seeds are inexpensive and once you have a few plants growing the seeds they produce are easy to save for future plantings.
Last night’s video: Quilting Bee & Marrying in Appalachia.
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Good morning Tipper and bunch. Happy Sunday. I love nasturtiums. I’ve grown them for years! I like to take a flat bowl and float them in water. If you place a candle in the middle it is a beautiful center piece. (Tealight candles float).
I love love love the new read. Thank you so very much. One of my weekly favorite things to do.
Thank you for everything ❣️
Every vegetable and every flower was once a weed. Our forefathers ate everything that didn’t make them sick. Our foremothers noticed how pretty the flowers were and grew them where they see them. A lot of them fell out of favor over time. If we hadn’t gotten too smart for our own good we could go weed the garden and come in full.
I read about the bad tasting medicine. None of mine or my wife’s family have ever felt the need to drink any type of alcohol drink to enjoy ourselves. One time I took a sip of beer at Bush Gardens and told them to pour it back into the horse it came out of. My wife and I had the flu real bad one year and could not get rid of the cough or congestion. I finally bought a bottle of rock and rye and mixed it with honey and lemon juice. A few doses of this did cure the cough and congestion. I told people if all liquor tasted this bad, they would never have to worry about me drinking. I think the cure was worse than the sickness.
Just came from from a fund raiser and car wash for my grandson’s high school band. He is in the color guard. I had forgotten about how much fun is was to be a be a teenager. The dumb boys let the girls have the hose pipes and were often “accidentally “ getting sprayed. Some things never change.
I love nasturtiums and have enjoyed blooms and leaves in salads.
However; when I juiced the leaves to make horseradish sauce to have with beef I ended up vomiting and turning jaundiced!
Well Tipper you just peeked my interest in a new flower! I’m definitely going to look into nasturtiums and see if I have a place to plant them next year. I think that they are absolutely beautiful. Thank you for another informative post. God bless.
I love your nasturtiums. I don’t usually grow lots of flowers but I do love them. I always have a couple hanging baskets from Mother’s Day and I have a small rock garden beside my front steps filled with marigolds and bachelor buttons this year. We have three giant volunteer Sunflowers that grew up on the middle of our garlic patch. I want to plant tons of them next year. Our honeybees love them, and then they buzz on over and get into our cucumber and other blooms.
I am looking forward to your next reading of the new book. Have a great weekend everyone.
I have never seen those but they sure are pretty. yellow is my favorite color. I bet the pink is to. My daughter does alot of three tinctures. They do help.
I never really favored nasturtiums until seeing yours. I’ve always just stuck to my tried and true favorites such as petunias, marigolds, lantana, and coleus. By the way, if you know the name of that beautiful red coleus you have this year, please share. I’ve only had variegated. This year was my first time planting nasturtiums and they have thrived. They will be on my list now every year. Thank you for opening my eyes to their beauty. Say hello to sweet granny, continued prayers for her and your family.
I love to eat nasturtium (small) leaves over salads and the blossoms. A bit bitter, but so packed with nutrients.
I think nasturtiums are so pretty and I also think the leaves are just as pretty as the flowers. I didn’t know they were edible. It took a while but yesterday we finally had our first tomato sandwiches! We finally got to try Cherokee purple for the first time and love them!! It may be my new favorite variety. I knew after seeing yours the last couple of years, I had to try them. Thank you, Tipper and Matt also!!
I am going to love the new book. There is something so special about a quilt and the ones I have, I treasure them. I remember this past Christmas when Corie found Granny Gazzie’s quilt top and had it made into a quilt for you. That was so special. Quilts don’t have to be fancy, mine surely aren’t but it’s the love and the stories behind them that mean so much to us.
I’m not a flower person, just vegetables, my wife handles the flowers.
I do want to say a sincere thank you for introducing me to the writing of Harvey J. Miller. It took a while but I got a copy of the Foxfire magazine that had the compilation of his columns. I’ve just finished reading it and thoroughly enjoy it.
If nasturtiums have properties similar to antibiotics wouldn’t it be wise to avoid ingesting them whenever possible just like we are advised to do with pharmaceutical antibiotics. Eating the leaves is probably good for you and looking at them certainly is, but taking extracts and concentrating them might not be. Antibiotics are like a “dirty bomb”. They kill off every living organism in their way including the microscopic flora and fauna that work in our gut to protect us from invaders that might kill us. Antibiotics kill off the teeny tiny critters that are making us sick but might kill those that are keeping us from something worse.
I’m not a doctor even though I might use a few doctor words. You do whatever works for you!
you can pickle the seeds, they are called poor man’s capers. do a Google or YouTube search for recipes.
I’d never heard much about Nasturtiums until I started watching your videos, then learned more about them after coming over to the BPATA. I’m sure I’ve seen them somewhere along my life journey, but I’m guessing I just never paid attention to what their name was until your videos. I know I had never grown them, until last year. I was so impressed how beautiful they were. I also grew Asters for the first time last year and fell in love with them too. Last year my garden had the most beautiful flowers around it. I normally just planted Marigolds and a few Sunflowers, so not a lot of color in all my past gardens, until last year. I did save the seeds, but since I didn’t do a big garden in ground this year, I didn’t plant any flowers from seeds. My husband and I just planted a few plants in tubs and honestly, he has been the main care taker of the garden this year. I hung up a couple of store bought Petunia planters around the tubs and a few begonia, and snapdragons plants I bought to attract bees. The Petunias were the only ones to survive. I didn’t plant any flowers from seeds. I was surprised to see a few Nasturtiums sprout where they had been last year and a couple of Asters did too. They weren’t as big, nor had the brilliant bright colors like last year, but I was very pleased to see them. I’m hoping next year we can install raise beds instead of the tubs. One thing I know I will be planting besides all my favorite vegetables is all the Nasturtiums, Aster, Marigold and Sunflower seeds I saved from my garden last year. I’m hoping next year will be a better garden than ours was this year. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and love of Nasturtiums with us.
the flowers ad the leaves ßure are pretty. Next year when I retire, I will check to see if they do well in Florida and if I will plant some and see how it goes. I really enjoy TBPATA so much. Love to hear Paul sing. Have a good week.
Rest assured I’ll be planting nasturtiums thanks to Farmer John’s info about the eyes. Also thanks to you Tipper for introducing me to these beautiful flowers. I’ve fell in love with them.
Have a wonderful day and stay hydrated if you’re working outside. Continued prayers for your momma and family.
Nasturtiums are such fun! Definitely try a pesto, toss the flowers in salads for a peppery bite and put your tincture in 1/4 cup of water. It’ll go down much easier & the dilution won’t affect the medicinal value.
Out of all things I enjoy in this excellent life God has given me, FLOWERS are my absolute favorite beautiful creation! I must concur 100 percent that Nasturtiums are just gorgeous, Tipper! You’re so right about the leaves being pretty and the flowers too. The whole plant just beckons to a bee or wasp to “come play on the leaf trampoline or softly stroll about it’s lofty, beckoning, broad leaves or if you care for a tasty nibble of pollen, help your sweet little selves!!! It will give you strength to journey onward and I love to help my new friends!!! We are in this together!!!” If I live until the next spring, let’s add nasturtium to my list of flowers. Gardening vegetables is ok, but flowers are my passion! When I walk over to see hollyhocks at daybreak with a bee sleeping inside getting all the joy he can, my heart swells so big, I feel like I could fly! I’ve seen all the flying wonders you can imagine in my peppermint patch which is huge. Sometimes I just stand there a long time AMAZED at all the flying wonders diversity and beauty. God knew EXACTLY what He was doing. Man-not so much. Oh the Master’s Touch is perfection!! Gods love and prayers to granny and anybody who needs a blessing today!!!
say the name of that flower again! God bless granny ✝️♥️
I have really never even seen nasturtiums until seeing them in your videos and what you all have said about them. The plants you have really are pretty. Nasturtiums are something maybe I would like to add to my plantings next year. I am glad to read the information shared here and the comments too.
The question is….when you were sick did it make you feel better. Medicine never tastes good! I grew a lot of nasturtium this year and wondered if it is worth it to make the tincture or just love it for its beauty and peppery taste!
Susan-I can’t believe I left that part out 🙂 I went back and added it 🙂 Yes Chatter and I thought it helped. The others not so much 🙂
Tipper, I too love Nasturtiums. When I was 4 years old, my neighbor lady Lila Ellison, planted them all around her back patio. I marveled at the beautiful flowers and the fascinating leaves. Plus, they had such a unique scent to them. To this day I think of Lila every time I see nasturtiums. Thank you for my walk down memory lane. I don’t think I could grow them here cause don’t have a lot of sun. Don’t they need a lot of sun?
Sorry that tincture was so horrid. My question is, did it help???
Donna-I can’t believe I left that part out 🙂 I went back and added it 🙂 Yes Chatter and I thought it helped. The others not so much 🙂
The video last night of your mom and brother singing was certainly special.
I was watching a couple of earlier videos last night while shelling peas concerning the local community center. What is its status this year? Is it still operating?
Robert-it is still operating. The videos and some newspaper features garnered new volunteers 🙂
Loved the reading as it does resonate somewhat with old times. Knowing that you read fiction as well, I just finished a book by David Baldacci called I wish you well. I think you would enjoy it also. Keeping Granny in my prayers and you guys, it has been a hard 8 1/2 months so far for you. God Bless
I loved that book!
Nasturtiums are the best food source of a lutein, a nutrient for your retinas. If you spend a lot of time gardening in the sunshine, eat naturism flowers to help prevent macular degeneration.
Farmer John
Farmer John-thank you for the bit of information!!
Farmer, I’ve been taking that well-known prescription for the prevention of MD for some 25 years. It is said to be loaded with lutein and vitamins. I still lost central vision in one eye, but I’m thankful to have good vision in the other. Eating nasturtiums might not help but it surely won’t hurt.