One Wonderful Weed

THOUGH MANY PEOPLE REGARD THE NASTURTIUM AS A NUISANCE, ITS 80-ODD SPECIES ARE BOTH PRETTY AND PRETTY USEFUL

- Melissa King

As garden plants, nasturtiums often fall into the love-or-hate category. Where they become wildly weedy, they are a real nuisance. In other places, these fast-growing annuals are a welcome addition to the garden with lush, rounded leaves and cheery summer and autumn flowers.

The blooms come in all the sunset shades: red, orange and yellow. There are even variegated forms with splashes of white on the leaves as well as single- and double-flowered forms.