Attack of the Giant Nasturiums

I am the “mad scientist of nasturtiums.” Over this past winter I dried the seed pods of the most prolific nasturtiums of 2013. I planted five seeds in very loose soil in April of this year. Kaboom! I now have nasturtiums with giant deeply veined leaves, as noted in the photo—that’s a drop of water in the center. Note the thick trunk of a sprout that is less than 45 days old. I have watered sparingly because of the drought. Doesn’t look like lack of water hurt growth—they are in filtered light near the ocean. The flowers are of average size.

I also planted dried nasturtium seeds from average-sized plants in 2013 in other parts of my yard and got average-sized plants this year.

These nasturtiums are loved by bees, butterflies and humming birds. But I find that the large leaves afford more room for butterflies to land. Note how the Cabbage White butterfly is dwarfed by the leaf.

This is a very unscientific  “backyard “study. But if you wish to award me a research grant, I will accept it.