365 Urban Species. #325: Nasturtium

[urbpan]

Photos by urbpan. Location: In front of an antique shop, Harvard Street, Brookline Village.

Urban species #235: Nasturtium Tropaeolum majus

This popular garden plant is attractive, easy to grow, fast-growing, hardy, and edible, making it a favorite among even novice gardeners . The flowers are used as an edible garnish, possessing a peppery taste. It grows as a weak spreading vine, or loose fragile bush. They are native to western South America, and have been widely introduced. They grow wild in the city of San Francisco, and elsewhere in California, and are considered invasive by some sources. Their roots are weak, and the plant can be easily pulled, but root fragments may resprout. The USDA reports nasturtiums growing in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, suggesting a tolerance for environments urban, rural, tropical, and cold. In places with mild winters they may grow year round. Populated areas of Easter Island were covered with thick growths of the plant when I visited in mid-winter a few years ago.




Nasturtiums are cultivated in a variety of yellow and orange hues.


Location: Hanga Roa Village, Easter Island.

Comments

[artemii.livejournal.com]

gardeners often plant nasturtiums in an attempt to keep aphids away from their more highly valued plants. (no, most gardeners do not in fact realize that most aphids are specialists)

[bellisaurius.livejournal.com]

By specialist, do you mean like a bug that almost requires a certain plant, or more of a preference issue?

[izzy23.livejournal.com]

I love the nasturtiums all over San Francisco. I wish they would grow well around here, but we only get a couple of months a year dry enough--they just rot away in spring and summer, and winter's too cold for them to grow well.