Nasturtium
– Tropæolum
Half-Hardy Annual.
Four inches to ten feet.
Flowers of several colours, July to October.
The name Nasturtium is generally used to distinguish
the annual bedding and climbing varieties from
their relations the perennial-rooted Tropæolums.
The Nasturtiums are divided into Dwarfs, forming
compact bushes from a few inches to a foot and
a half high, and the Tall or climbing section,
which rambles over any suitable support to a height
of ten or twelve feet.
Both sections are succulent
and brittle in the stem, have flat circular leaves
of a pale green, and hood-shaped, tailed flowers
in vivid colours – scarlet, yellow, buff,
pink, deep-red, brown, either singly or contrasted
in the same flower.
Both are exceedingly easy
of growth; the seeds should be dibbled into the
soil an inch deep at the end of March, or sown
a couple of inches apart in drills. The seedlings
should be thinned till they are about nine inches
apart. The climbing sort should be given good
soil; the dwarfs should be sown on rather poor
soil (not absolutely starved) to check the growth
of leaves at the expense of flower.
The seedlings
transplant easily, if taken up with reasonable
care and watered in. the dwarfs require no after-care
beyond the keeping down of weeds and loosening
the soil with the hoe; the climbers must be placed
where they can reach a trellis, wire netting,
or strings on a wall, or must have tall pea-boughs
firmly driven into the ground for their support.
In sowing patches in mixed borders, it is better
to have separate colours for the several patches;
a large breadth or bed filled with all colours
mixed together looks very good and is well enough.
The following are some of the best sorts of dwarf
Nasturtiums:
King Theodore: a short grower, very dark red.
Crystal Palace Gem: primrose with brown markings.
King of Tom Thumbs: dark foliage, fine scarlet
flowers.
Pearl: very light yellow.
Cœruleum Roseum: pink with blue flush.
There are named sorts of the Climbers, but a
good “mixture” is all that is necessary
for ordinary garden purposes.
See Also : Tropaeolum
and Canary Creeper
|
