You have to love nasturtiums! They protect other plants from being ravaged by insects. They are cheerful. They add such gorgeous colours to the palate of the garden. Throughout the summer they have silently attracted many bees and other beneficial insects to help pollinate and protect their neighbour plants. Often a buzzy bee will dive in and out of flowers--only his little bottom exposed--as I carry a bouquet of them toward the house. They are healthy food and very tasty additions to a salad--peppery and lively in flavour. What's not to love?
But there is another life to the nasturtium. Bring them into the house the night before a killing frost and watch them transform the space! At first they are a mass of green, red, yellow, orange, little seed pods leaning in every direction looking overcrowded and even uncomfortable. But the next day they seem to have made a decision through the night that, not only will they rally and recover their glorious garden beauty, they will enhance it. They set to work straining for the sun. They straighten up taller than they were in the garden. When rays of sun fall upon them they become lit–– a stunning light and colour show. And over the next week or so the performance will continue to unfold, tiny buds turing into full blossoms, leaves fading in colour while all life force is directed to the flowers--the quest for creating seed their main task. Although they do not have time to transform flowers into seeds, they fill the room and our hearts with a sense of Mother Nature's remarkable ability to push the limits of beauty and goodness.
Spending a few minutes each day gazing at the bouquet, mindful of the final journey they travel, picking the once hidden seeds hanging off the withering branches adds a sense of perspective and peace to daily life.
Copyright
© Nancy Tracey 2013
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