Unless you have been on another planet for the past few months, you have probably heard at least snatches of the infectious song, “Happy,” by artist Pharrell Williams. It may or may not be your kind of music, but it makes an awful lot of people all around the world want to dance. I am in favor of that, since if we all danced more, we would probably do less of other, more destructive things. I am also in favor of plants that achieve the same goal—making people feel happy.
Nasturtiums (Tropaeolum species) fill the bill. You can grow them in-ground, plant them in pots, train the climbing forms up supports or let them sprawl over walls. When they bloom, you can even eat the flowers, as people have done for centuries, provided you like a little peppery bite in your savory salads and garnishes. I find that eating my nasturtiums makes me less happy than looking at them in the garden. However, to each his own.
Most of us are familiar with the common garden variety nasturtiums, Tropaeolum majus, which have rounded, blue-green leaves and colorful flowers, generally with five petals apiece. The petals are sometimes of unequal size. Our grandmother’s nasturtiums were generally brightly colored, in shades of red, yellow and orange, which made for a lot of visual impact in the garden. You can still get those and install them in hot colored beds. For even more fireworks, try a variety with variegated leaves. ‘Alaska Mix’ is a favorite, combining an array of bright colored blooms with white and green foliage.
If you want to cool things down a bit, however, try lighter-colored varieties like creamy ‘Buttercream;’ the pale yellow climber, ‘Moonlight;’ or ‘Vanilla Berry,’ which is cream with just a bit of strawberry-red at the throat. I especially like pairing ‘Moonlight’ with blue-flowered salvia, which shares its predilection for sunny spaces.
Some lucky gardeners have spent years enriching their soil to the point where inserting a trowel is like digging into a nice, moist chocolate cake. Nasturtiums are for the rest of us. The plants thrive in lean, unamended soil and, once established, can tolerate some drought. I believe the great garden writer Henry Mitchell once referred to relatives who grew them successfully in tin washtubs through torrid Texas summers. Too much fertilizer will produce a heavy crop of foliage but fewer of the happy flowers that we all crave. Save the soil amendments for the roses and other fussy plants. Nasturtiums let you take it easy.
The majority of garden nasturtium varieties have a bushy or mounding habit, growing up to about twelve inches tall and up to two feet wide. Climbing nasturtiums forms are perfect for relatively light supports, like trellises. You will have to tie the plants to the supports, but it is little enough to do for a very dramatic effect. In addition to ‘Moonlight,’ I like the red-flowered ‘Spitfire’ and the yellow and red ‘Indian Cress,’ a variety that takes its name from one of the traditional common names for the garden species.
There are, of course, other, somewhat less common nasturtium species. Canary creeper or Tropaeolum peregrinum, as you might expect, is a climbing annual species that can reach ten feet tall by the end of the growing season under favorable conditions. Each flower looks a bit like the topknot on some exotic yellow bird. The equally attractive leaves are the characteristic blue-green of many nasturtiums and deeply lobed. Other species include the flame creeper or Scottish creeper, which apparently grows like gangbusters in Scotland. It features dramatic, spurred vermillion flowers, and leaves that look like flowers, with five leaflets apiece, arranged in a circular pattern. Flame creeper is deciduous, reaching up to nine feet in height after five to ten years and, according to the Royal Horticultural Society, is hardy down to fourteen degrees Fahrenheit. The plants prefer a sheltered, sunny exposure. If you don’t live in Scotland, but want to try flame creeper anyway, make sure that it is planted in moist, well-drained soil. Perhaps a wee dram of single malt applied at intervals of your choosing would help as well. You never know.
I like to multi-task in the garden and am have been forced to do so lately, since we have enjoyed about six rainy days for every sunny one. As I pull up the weeds that are running amok through the beds and borders, I plant nasturtiums in the sunny spots. I will, no doubt, forget about them promptly, but by the middle of the summer, the flowers will remind me of their presence. Some of the best surprises are those that you arrange for yourself.