Almost all of my nasturtium seeds germinated, though some scarification methods were better than others. Interestingly, the only seeds that did not germinate were the seeds soaked in warm water for 3 hours. Even the ones with no scarification eventually germinated, though only after waiting for 15 days! The best method was chipping the seed coat with a nail clipper, as it was quick, easy to do, and produced the quickest results (germination in 5-7 days).
Now I have 10 ‘Spitfire’ nasturtium plants to find homes for. I think I’ll try growing two or three indoors, so I still need to come up with ideas for the remaining seven. Here are a couple of plant combinations I thought of, let me know what you think…
Patriotic Urn
Red, white, and blue always seem festive to me. I’d have the nasturtium scrambling up an obelisk-type trellis, with a big, healthy bacopa overflowing the pot. Then I’d tuck Desert Bluebells around to fill in any bare spots. I think this combo would look great in a black urn. Seems like a great thing to place next to a sunny front door. Or you make your own “blooming tire” planter. Don’t knock it until you see one in person. Check out this one featured on You Grow Girl.
Here’s a quick sketch of what I was thinking:
Please ignore my poor drawing skills. You’d think someone with a BA in Art would have excellent drawing skills…but my emphasis was graphic design, so I skimped on the drawing classes. Actually, I hated drawing classes.
Wildlife Heaven
The information on the ‘Spitfire’ nasturtium packet says that hummingbirds love it, so there’s one part of the wildlife spectrum covered. Asclepias, also known as Milkweed, is the host plant for Monarch butterflies. They will only lay their eggs on this one plant. So you’re sure to attract them with it, not to mention all the other types of butterflies that like Asclepias as well. And then to round things out and keep the container visually interesting, is Lamb’s Ear (Stachys byzantina).
If you’ve got nasturtiums, how are you potting them up?
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I’m growing Nasturtium “Spitfire” for the GROW project. Thanks, to Renee’s Garden for the seeds.
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I like that second combo! My spitfires reseeded themselves in my window box, and are growing up around some sunset calibrachoa and some california poppies. It looks pretty great. They also seeded themselves in my compost corner and are climbing up and around my table and chairs. It also looks pretty neat, because they’re flowering, but I suspect I will have to do something about it soon.
There are only nasturtiums in my pot right now, but your combo ideas sound great. I haven’t seen dessert bluebells around here – pretty!
We like to tuck a few nasturtium seeds into the front of our trough style planters. They cascade down over the side and soften things up beautifully. This is the year of the snapdragon on our small patio so there will be lots of red, yellow and orange for a nice firey look! We also did several small (6 inch) pots of the nast. in and around all of the herbs, on a multi level plant stand in the lily bed and popped them into our hanging baskets as well. I saw an idea in a magazine where you nestle pots of graduated sizes to create a fountain effect. By the by…this is a great way to use those plastic pots with cracks down the sides instead of tossing or recycling them! I was originally planning on using lobelia for a watery look but ended up using, yes you guessed it, my wonderful nasturtiums. We love these little flowers for so many reasons but the main one is that they are so darn easy and give us so much bang for our buck! Thanks for your fabulous and informational blog! I check it every single day!
Great tips; I’ll be sure to send people to your blog.
I chose to put the Nasturtium in the corner blocks of the cinder block salad garden. (holes up) Only edible plants in that garden and as the corners are doubled up I chose to have the Nasturtium cascade down to cover the cinder blocks. Didn’t take long at all. Using both yellow and red and it adds brilliance around the salad garden.
Make it a green day everyone; one that you love!
i planted nasturdiums but i love this composition with the dessert blue bells it brings out the beauty of their colour so much
I’ve got one Alaska potted in an 8″ with a couple of radishes to keep the soil loose.
If I can ever get the vining ones to grow I want to have them even spaced in their own pots (alternating the vining and Alaska ones and alternating other plant pots between those) and get the vining ones going up some bamboo rods to a twine trellis above.
If nothing else I should have the twine trellis going this coming weekend.
I have Jewel Mix, Whirlybird Mix, and Empress of India. Everywhere, containers, border of my Sunflower garden. I love them! I must have over 100 plants growing in different spots. I love to stuff the flowers with creme cheese and chives. I press the leaves for art projects. Salads, I just love this flower. Next year more colors, I was in a red, yellow , orange frame of mind when I chose garden colors this year!
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