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Article: Nasturtiums, once good for the frontier, good for today
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- December 28, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2003 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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Imagine a woman in the pioneer days. During the long winter
nights, she basked in the light of an oil lamp perusing her seed
catalogs. There, on the pages of the catalog, she found the
nasturtium, with its unusual round leaves -- so different from other
garden flowers. It grew easily from seed that could be shipped to her
on the remote frontier.
We tend to take the lowly nasturtium for granted these days. But
people of the Victorian years, this annual was far more than just a
garden flower -- the vine-like habit was both beautiful and useful. A
nasturtium vine can grow 15 feet over a long season, quite a feat for
an annual plant. Victorian era garden books suggest training them to
verandas, ...