Growing Wise : cottage garden plants

Nasturtiums on my mind

Elisabeth — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:44:00 GMT

Even as the grape hyacinths come into bloom and the last of the daffodils open up in my yard, I, like other gardeners am thinking ahead. That's why I am planting nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) seeds. The closest that many people get to nasturtiums is seeing them as part of the packaged "edible flower mixes" sold in the specialty produce sections of many supermarkets. The flowers taste peppery and are good in salads, but I think they lend even more spice to the summer garden.

The blooms have five petals apiece (double-flowered varieties are also widely available) and are vaguely trumpet shaped. They grow profusely and stay close to the rounded green leaves. My favorite nasturtiums are the old-fashioned ground hugging varieties that are great for the front of the border, flourish in pots and make a colorful edging for vegetable or herb gardens. I am especially fond of 'Peach Melba', a cultivar with cream petals and a red throat. This year I may try one of the climbing varieties as well.

Nasturtiums have big, pea-like seeds that are easy to handle. Soak them in water for about eight hours before planting to loosen the hard outer covering.

Perhaps the most wonderful thing about nasturtiums is that they absolutely love lean soil and don't mind drought. Put them in rich soil and overfertilize and you will get an exuberant crop of leaves but few flowers. But if you plant them in sunny space, water until they are established and pretty much forget about them thereafter, they will generally reward you with lots of flowers. Pick a few for a salad, but enjoy the rest in the garden. Nasturtiums are about as close as most of us will get to a horticultural free lunch.

Sunflowers

Elisabeth — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 12:33:00 GMT

Last week I went to the Philadelphia Flower Show, the annual garden extravaganza that draws visitors from all over the northeast, if not the country. This year's theme was "Bella Italia", with display gardens, large and small, centered on Italian themes. The graphic on all the Flower Show literature and in the hall itself was a giant, golden sunflower on a blue background. It reminded me of Italy, but, more than that, it reminded me of how much I love sunflowers (Helianthus).

How long has it been since you have grown sunflowers? If your answer is more than one year, it has been too long. Sunflowers, of course, have been favorites in plain old backyard gardens for years. With seeds big enough for a child to hold and plant, they are often the first plants that young gardeners grow. They sprout quickly, shoot upwards impressively and embody summer joy when they open. Birds love the flowerheads, long after the petals have gone, making sunflowers the perfect habitat plant.

In the last ten or fifteen years, sunflowers have begun keeping more elegant company, showing up in high-end florist bouquets, high-concept garden layouts and glossy shelter magazine spreads. The white varieties have been used in elegant, all-white summer arrangements and container gardening enthusiasts have discovered the more compact growers.

Sunflowers' beauties will not be news to those of you who have grown them all along. For those who will be trying them for the first time this year, welcome to the fashionable fold. Everything old is new again.

Obedient Plant

Elisabeth — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 22:54:00 GMT

I bought my first obedient plant (Physostegia) on sale along with a lot of other plants. I couldn't figure out where to put it, so I planted the young perennial in a large terra cotta pot, put it in a sunny but somewhat out-of the-way spot in the garden and forgot about it. Then in the middle of the summer, I noticed tall stalks laden with pink buds leaping up out of the pot. The buds opened to tubular pink flowers that were borne in great profusion. Since I had forgotten about the plant, the whole thing seemed serendipitous.

Obedient plant is a member of the mint family, but I think of it as having more in common with another cottage garden favorite, the snapdragon. Both plants grow into tall, colorful spires (though snapdragon has the edge in color variety). Both are fun to handle. I don't know many gardeners who can resist pinching a snapdragon blossom to make its "jaws" snap open and closed. Individual obedient blossoms don't "snap", but they can be gently pushed in one direction or they other and will remain where you put them. This is what the "obedient" common name is all about.

My original obedient plant has self-seeded itself into a very nice clump and I have added a white physostegia to the mix. It too has set about reproducing. I am quite sure that I will never have to buy another one, though someday I may have to start giving my extra plants away to the neighbors.

Obedient plant is a great investment and a colorful, playful addition to the garden. In my household, it is the only entity that does exactly what I want it to.