Sunday, 26 July 2009

Today's Flowers #50

Nasturtiums grow like weeds in our garden! I have picked flowers and leaves to eat with salad leaves - peppery! I always look carefully at the undersides of the leaves, many of which play host to hordes of blackfly, and leave those on the plant.
I took this photograph for the beautifully variegated leaves which look as though they've been marbled. (Does anyone remember 'marbling' at school? Satisfying results in a very quick time. I tried it with a couple of primary school classes I taught too . . . ;-))

I thought this nasturtium was quite outstanding in its colour and form.
Photos will enlarge if clicked
I always thought capers were the pickled seed heads of nasturtiums but have just discovered that 'proper' capers come from the Caper plant (Capparis spinosa) which is native to the Mediterranean where it grows wild. Capers are widely used in Mediterranean cuisine.
Those I have always fondly held to be the real McCoy are actually known as 'Poor Man's Capers' and are a cheap substitute for the genuine and expensive article. Nonetheless I intend to pickle some this year and if we live to tell the tale I'll let you know what we all thought of them.
Thanks are owed to Luiz Santilli Jr., Denise Gullickson, Laerte Pupo and Valkyrien for hosting 'Today's Flowers'.
To enjoy other blooms from around the world please click here

14 comments:

  1. oh lovely - nasturtiums are so bright and cheerful!

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  2. We have the same flower today! They are so lovely, it is a pity they often get some flower eating visitors! Great photos!

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  3. Beautiful nasturiums. What is the honeysuckle in your header, with that purple shading?

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  4. sweet bay - although the label has been lost I'm pretty sure the honeysuckle is Lonicera Periclymenum Beglica Serotina. It has a delicious scent too! We have it growing over one of our garden arches.

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  5. . . . that should be Belgica . . .

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  6. The colors are beautiful.

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  7. I never knew about the caper plant, and I will be very interested in what you think of your pickled ones. Thanks for such an informative post, and also for those lovely photographs. Have a great week.

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  8. I've never been very struck on nasturtiums but might have to change my mind after seeing this photo. The leaves look gorgeous!

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  9. Denise, I'll let you know!
    I've just read that dried nasturtium seeds were ground into a powder during the Second World War as a replacement for pepper. I can imagine it was rather successful as the leaves and flowers are peppery . . . ;-)

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  12. I love them, they have such a fresh aroma, the flowers are great and so pretty in salads and the buds can be pickled for false capers. On top of all that, they have the prettiest faces.

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  13. we had nasturiums in our garden last year and they about took over the plot, so we pulled them. But i wish i had thought of pickling them--i love capers

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  14. Thank you jabblog. I will have my eye out for that one. It's beautiful!

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