This spring I will attempt to grow nasturtiums (again). Nasturtium is native to the South American Andes from Bolivia to Columbia. Some consider them to be herbs as the leaves and blooms are edible. The leaves have a crisp peppery taste that ’s great as salad greens.
I especially love the cheerful crinkly flowers of orange, red and yellow. And the leaves remind me of small lily pads. Photo from Hume Seeds.
They are suppose to be some of the easiest flowers to grow. Yet when I attempted to grow them last spring, I didn’t have much luck at all.
This is all that grew in 4 weeks (photo from last spring). When I decided to transplant it, the whole thing just died a few days later.
I must not have seen this helpful tip from the seed packet: “Does not transplant well.” This year, I will be sure to plant them in a large pot or just straight into the ground.
A few more tips:
* Garden nasturtium enjoy sandy soils.
* Too much water and fertilizer could result in more leaves then blooms.
* It also enjoys full sun or light shade and prefers some shade in the summer sun.
* Nasturtium are somewhat drought tolerant but enjoy regular watering.
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Hibiscus flowers usually remind me of tropical places such as Hawaii. They are popular ingredients in herbal tea as it gives off the nice red color. These interesting looking hibiscus flowers are not the typical hibiscus grown as ornamental plants.
They are named roselle or “Hibiscus sabdariffa” and are edible. Roselle are an annual woody shrub that grows to 2–2.5 m tall. This plant is mainly grown in Southeast Asia and Central America.
They may look strange to someone who has never seen them before. The calyx are left over after the petals have fallen off. What you see (pictured above) is these deep red bulb like blooms.
Germany uses it as natural food color and France likes it dipped in syrup. They are also popular made into sauces, syrups, and jams. They even have medicinal values and is also full of Vitamin C, Iron, Calcium and Niacin.
These dried Roselle I found at Trader Joe’s are also dipped in syrup. I have tried dried dragon fruit from Trader Joe’s and love them! So I just had to give these a try too. The texture is like dried fruit rolled up but more bland and chewy. It’s slightly tart and sweet (from the syrup). But I do think they taste better then dried cranberries.
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