Nasturtium and
Edible Flowers
Tropaeolum majus
H
ave you ever wondered how botanists come
up with such extraordinary and mostly un
pronounceable names for plants? I’ve fi nally
come upon one I get, and it’s almost humorous!
Nasus tortus, one name given to the nastur
tium, means “convulsed nose” and refers to
that odd-shaped beak of a flower that droops
backward to the soil. My convulsed nose did
brilliantly at the sunny end of a row of cab
bages, flanked on either side with green onions,
like organic sentries. I separated the cabbage
from the nasturtiums with a buffer zone of
mesclun lettuce, basil, and arugula.
I love the flat disc leaves for their peppery
almost arugula taste, and the flowers dress a
salad or garnish a main dish brilliantly with
yellow, orange, and red shades. The droopier or
longer the nose, the sweeter the fl ower. Very
long ones can garnish a dessert.
It’s just one of several edible flowers that you
might want to plant in the odd bare patch
throughout your raised beds—just to get some
splashes of natural color amid all the greens.
Nasturtium does have the reputation for at
tracting aphids, which is actually not such a bad
thing if you can get them all in one place (like
having a Starbucks for aphids). At least it’ll keep
them out of my tea shop!
I did a whole border of alyssum around the
tomatoes and peppers and basil, which wound
up keeping the lower hanging fruit from touch
ing down in the dirt!
This coming year, I’m setting out a range
of edible flowers that will include pansies, be
gonias, calendula, daisies, geranium (I use the
leaves only), Johnny-jump-ups, lavender, mari
gold, and an old-fashioned deep red rose (it
makes an intriguing jam).
It seems that many flowers work, but only a
few should not be eaten, including lily-of-the
valley, sweet pea, oleander, and foxglove. Please
check first to ensure that a flower is, indeed,
edible, and never eat anything that has been
grown or protected by inorganic chemicals.
270 • GROWING AT THE SPEED OF LIFE
