Annuals & Biennials

Tropaeolum
nasturtium

- Height 9-144 in (23-360 cm)
- Planting distance 15 in (38 cm)
- Flowers early summer to midfall
- Poor soil
- Sunny site
- Tender annual

This tender annual's spurred, lightly perfumed orange and yellow flowers and trailing stems with round, smooth green leaves are some of the most familiar summer sights in gardens. The blooms appear from early summer until fall and grow on compact, trailing, or climbing plants, depending on the cultivar. Nasturtiums can be grown in containers and hanging baskets, in bedding displays, or at the front of a border, and they can be trained up a wall or trellis. However, aphids find the smooth green leaves irresistible and will destroy the plants if they are not controlled.

Popular species and cultivars
Tropaeolum majus is the species from which most garden cultivars, including the following climbing, compact, and semi-trailing types, have been developed.
Climbing cultivars reach 6 ft (180 cm) or more high and are suitable for training up a trellis or a wall.
'Fordhook Favorites' offer single flowers from gold to red.
Compact cultivars have a compact bushy habit and reach 9 in (23 cm) high.
'Alaska Hybrids' have single red and orange flowers. The pale green leaves are marbled with cream.
'Empress of India' has deep crimson-scarlet flowers and dark green leaves.
'Tom Thumb Hybrids' have single flowers in shades of red, orange, and yellow.
'Whirlybird Hybrids' bear a mass of semi-double blooms in mixed colors. These are held well above the foliage and face upward. Single colors - scarlet, mahogany, cherry, tangerine, orange, gold, and cream - are also available.
Semitrailing cultivars have a trailing habit and reach 12-15 in (30-38 cm) high.
'Double Gleam Hybrids' have fragrant double and semi-double flowers in golden yellow, orange and scarlet.
'Jewel Hybrids' are an early-flowering mixture with semi-double blooms in mixed colors. Tropaeolum peregrinum is a short-lived perennial species usually grown as an annual. Rapidly reaching 12 ft (360 cm) high in one season, it bears irregularly shaped yellow flowers with green spurs from midsummer to midfall among blue-green leaves. It will tolerate shade.

Annuals
and
Biennials