I bought another seed packet of the climbing Nasturtiums - mixed colours. Has anyone grown these from seed and do they do well? I was thinking I could grow them up my downspout on the house? My guess is they don't grow as tall as I would like but maybe I could still put them on my pergola too?? Any thoughts??
Nasturtiums - do they grow well?
Bump...
Sre... never tried the climbing ones. ☺
Hi, Dawn! I prefer the climbing variety. I buy Burpee brand, usually, off the rack. They're called "Burpee's Tall Mix", and grow 6 - 7 feet. They're best direct-sowed and I rarely have a problem with germination.
I grow mine up the chicken wire fence in the veggie garden. Here's an end-of-the-season pic.
I think if you want them going up a spouting you will need to install a wire wrap or something for the plants to hang onto. Otherwise I see nothing wrong with your idea. Go for it.
Yes that was my idea doc...I think I will just wrap some chicken wire around it....that should do the trick!
And then sit there this summer and listen to the chippies playing spout wire tunes while packing away the seed. Record it as a new wire spout form of nature's strange musical sounds. This could be a first. ]:o)
Here's a pic of my largest ones ever. I don't know what they were. I buy lots of cheap nasturtiums for my kid's gardening night some years and I think they came from Wally World's bargain 10/1.00 seed bin.
The Fabulous Noodles has been gone from us for a year now but there she is in this picture in all her puppy glory! she weighed 2.8 pounds in this picture.
I have had great success with Nasty climbers. Might need coaxing up a slippery surface, try chicken wire wrapped around the spout.
I grew mine on a wood trellis as a barrier or garden divider.
How high do they grow given reasonably good soil and full sun? Are they sourced in the big box store seed racks? Do they have the same salad inhancing peppery tase as their lower growing plants? I have a pack of seed someone gave me last year. She called them tall running seed. I had visions of being tangled up with them and perhaps they might be monster class. No I did not plant them not knowing. Mercy. We were unaware of climbers which sounds like the same thing.
Burpee's has the tall, climbing type called Fordhook's Favorites. They are usually displayed on the Burpee's seed rack at Homey D's or your local garden center. They are one of Burpee's oldest varieties. They say "height 6 Feet" but I have seen them taller than this. There was a garden out on the pacific coast of Washington where they had nasturtiums trained up the chimney of a one story cape cod style beach cottage. all the way to the top which had to be 20'. I don't know if they were Burpee's however, because the people were not home to ask. I have also seen tall, climbing nasturtiums trained very tall at the flower show from time to time, once a single plant trained to a 6 foot wire obelisk, but never as tall as the ones in Washington state. If they get conditions they like, they just keep going. Look out for the black aphids on your nasturtiums, however, whose lovely snack they are.
Martha
This message was edited Mar 26, 2008 9:02 AM
Climbing nasties get to at least ten feet. They spread sideways too.
I grew some at the base of a low retaining wall and they grew back into the garden, great fun if your a joi de vivre type gardener like me.I am new to chats and forums so bare with me. Also a poor speller.
I have painted my trellis climbers.
As in mail sent to docgipe.
Absolutely charming ge! You are clearly very talented in many forms of artistic creation. Who can spell anymore, that's what the spell check has done for us. lol.
Painters LOVE flowers. I paint them a lot.website :joanngentle.com
Trellis climbers is a ten year old painting, but back to plants, They volunteer for the second season, not too great the third season. Mine were planted in partsun part shade and did really well.
Has anyone been able to grow regular nasties in a container? I havn't had any luck, plants are small,yellow leaves never bloom.
Never had a nasturtium volunteer here, but the seeds are easy to get started in the ground and pots where I like to stick them so I don't worry about that too much.
Love your painting ge. My sisters and brother paint. I grow the flowers and send them pictures and they paint them. My one sister did a huge nasturtium painting a number of years ago. I have also got their rendition of daffodils too and a flowering cherry tree.
If you love the lord of the rings, when Samwise returns home to his wife and family in Hobbiton, she has giant nasturtiums growing in the front yard.
Martha
Nasturtiums grow like crazy. I wouldn't imagine they could cover a pergola, though
Can you imagine planting a Hobbit garden . . . definitely would include nasturiums :-)
tufe,Sorry about the confusion, my climbers were on a shoulder high trellis. I also doubt they would go higher than a pergolla. The ones I planted at the foot of a low retaining wall must hav loved where they were because they went back into the garden 10 feet.
Thanks for all the info folks! I do appreciate it. I am going to go ahead and certainly give them a try....
And, you can eat them!
Martha