Im not having much luck with them this year either. I planted two large packs of seeds directly in the ground this spring. But I think that our exeptionally cool and rainy spring set them back a lot. Only one is large and blooming. The rest are still barely past seedling stage.
CMK

One observation I've made this year, the seed I collected last year and the seed bought and planted this year are not growing at the same rate. They are both planted in the same place, planted at the same time, my seed is growing and blooming, the plants from the new seed are just sitting there, small, no blooms. I always plant some new ones every year to get some nice clear colors, the flowers from my own are always variegated or the colors are in blotches, pretty but I do like to have some solid colors. I guess to have nice clear colors you would have to grow only one color or at least grow each color some distance apart.
annette

The nasturtiums that I planted from purchased seed in eary spring came up, then the weather got really dry and despite watering, they just didn't do anything much. A few scattered blooms, and then they just dried up when the weather got hot.

The seeds I planted in pots last year did very well.

Nell

I planted some yellow and burgandy ones from seed this year and they are up and blooming.But the darn worms did get hold of them and ate a good meal.But they're doing ok since i sprayed them.
Kathi

I have differing levels of success with nasturtiums, jewel, Alaska, and other kinds I don't remember. Some years they germinate well and grow and bloom like crazy. Other years either germination is spotty, or even if it was OK they don't do much. This year, in my new bed I started the first week of June, I planted some red flowering ones. The leaves are reddish, too, but they haven't gotten big enough to start blooming yet. They are supposed to do best in soil that isn't too rich. I applied compost all over, so I hope they will still bloom. Something is eating mine, too. I think maybe slugs. I put out a pet safe slug bait. I try to avoid chemicals, but slugs can do major damage, and the bait won't hurt bees and butterflies.

I have read that direct seeding is best because they don't transplant well. Have you been able to have transplants grow?

Sue

My experience has been that they are fussy for the first few years. They will grow in a lot of zones and fussy will mean different things in different gardens. My advice is to plant in several different areas where you think you might enjoy nasturtiums. Then and watch and wait. If they fry or yellow no matter what you do, give up and plant something else. But if you get a healthy patch growing it's uphill from there. Just give water and bait for snails. Before you know it, you'll be pulling it out by the armful to keep it in check. Sue's right about the fact that some years they come back stronger than others. I wonder why that is. But once established, they insist.

My soil is lean, and alkaline. I planted in areas which did not have much in the way of amendment. It was really windy this spring. It could be that conditions were just too dry for nasturtiums. One directly sown plant is coming along well in the pepper patch. Another plant is barely surviving in a flower garden. I may have misidentified the third, might be a globe mallow. It is still small. Monsoon season has begun, maybe some of those seeds will sprout now.

Steven, don't be envious, becauase there are tradeoffs. I suffered through the bad snail and slug infestation in the SF Bay Area for thirty years. When I moved to New Mexico, I was SURPRISED to find there are no snails and slugs in this area. Conditions are too dry for them to exist on the mesa, but there are snails and slugs in the valley. There are no fleas because of the altitude.

Lorna

Oh, nasturtium... I wish I hadn't planted the first one in my garden! They're so invasive and now I have nasturtiums from seeds everywhere, I keep pulling and pulling and pulling!!!

Someone's meat is another's poison!

Xuan

I planted Cherry Rose nasturtiums in a flower pot inside. Shortly after they germinated I set the pot outside on the shadier side of our gardens and slowly moved them into the sunnier side. The plants were/are very spindly and pale, some of the leaves are even yellow but the flowers are just like the picture on the package and I'm very pleased with that. I have some seeds left and will direct sow them near their siblings tomorrow. They are not a favorite and sort of fussy so unless the direct seeding does well I probably won't bother with them again.

Bonny

I have experienced all of the above except for the invasivness. This year the ones I started from seed are small spindly both in window boxes and some in a new area. However the volunteers from last year are healthy robust and full of blooms - the only problem they are in the walkway but we just walk around them - after all a cottage garden is controlled chaos. I could not have a season without my nastursiums......

Lynne

Oh, I really need to take a picture of mine! I have raised beds, 18 inches high, on my concrete backyard (don't ask), and one of those beds I moved last year but didn't finish filling it because I got pregnant at about that time, so I've been using that as a sort of compost heap area. ANYway, I put lots of finished nasturtiums in there last year, just as a place for them to decompose. This year the entire bed, about 6ft by 4ft is full of great big nasturtiums... they're just barely starting to bloom, but in another few weeks it should be quite a sight. I have to get a picture, I'll try to do it tomorrow if the rain will hold off.

I find that my nasturtiums do the best when I plant them in poor soil and ignore them. Let Mother Nature water them and they put in a great show. Of course, if we are really having no rain, I will water them when the rest of the garden gets watered.

Nasturtium is a plant that will NOT thank you for pampering. LOL

In the past I had to purchase over a $1,000's worth of seeds per year. Many seed companies keep their seeds way too long or store them under unfavorable conditions. This is why that the seeds you collect yourself will out germinate any purchased seed. What bothered me the most was the time and energy wasted. Growers complain about this problem all the time. Did you know that some big seed suppliers will hold their seed up to 7 years. Some of the retail stores that sell seeds will hold them until the following year, instead of tossing them out, and buying fresh seed. They store them in a dry warehouse using no temperature control. The only thing that you can do is try to buy them from a reputable distributer, and even they can have problems. What you shouldn't do is to blame yourself. Nine out of ten times it's the seed.

Herblady, you bring up an excellent point, and it is something I've been wondering about. It is probably best to buy seeds from SeedSavers.com, Heirloomseeds.com or other companies like that!

Lorna

This is one of the reasons why I save my own seed, beans and lettuce I have for years and now I'm starting to save seed from flowers as well, as with nasturtiums many don't come true due to cross pollination but at least they have a good germination rate. My neighbor only buys a plant once and then saves his own seed.
Annette

I can not get these to grow for me. Thank you for bringing up this topic, Lorna because I thought I was the only one failing at this.

I appreciate your insight, herblady. You've encouragement me to try again!

Marilyn

This year, finally, I have had success. It has been about 8 years since I did last. I gave up four years ago, but this year I tried again and eureeka! They grew and are blooming like crazy, spilling out into the paths amongst the flowers. I planted them in the potager this spring around the broccoli and the cabbages to ward off insects, and they are now really lush and filling in around some of the tomatoes that took the place of the broccoli along with the basil.
I have lost a few of my nasturtium plants, however - the smaller varieties. They bloomed in April and May, but suddenly died in mid to late May after all too much rain and the high temperatures that followed. The tall varieties made it through the flooding and then the sweltering heat and dry spell.
So, I think it is the variety in combination with climate or weather, but it is often poor seed too, but you don't always have to pay a lot to get good quality seeds. I found the tall variety of nasturtiums at the Dollar General store - 3 pkgs for a dollar. The packages were nice big packages, full of seeds. I bought several packages of flowers, including Bachelor Buttons and California Poppies and Detroit Beets. Every seed I planted sprouted and grew and they are still growing and blooming profusely. ~ Annie

We've just had two days of monsoon rains here. Yesterday I went out to have a look at the produce garden during a lull in the rain. I saw a new nasturtium!

Sometimes the dollar stores sell good products. I've seen a few Trader Joe's products at one of the local discount (odd lot)groceries. Nice that we have our own seed exchange! Nasturtiums might be a hot commodity this year, save those seeds!!

Lorna

I hope this works... here's a pic I took tonight of my nasturtium volunteers:

One more pic from another angle. They look like they're going to swallow the car :)

Oh, I'm so jealous--those are large nasturtiums! ;-) Some monsoon rains finally sprouted a few of my seeds, but not a large percentage considering how many I planted.

Lorna

Isn't it a treat that you didn't even know you planted those seeds? Was it you asking about hollyhocks being yellow? I see them in the photo. They look happy to be where they are, too!
Sue

Exactly... I live in the ideal climate for nasturtiums because we get TONS of rain, just the thing for growing those great big leaves, and the sun isn't too intense either so they don't get fried later. I do think that lots of water early on is the key to growing these, so they get lots of good green growth, and then neglect them so they flower like crazy after.

Sue, yeah, those are my strangely yellow hollyhocks. They're nice, and the leaves are a lot less ratty than last year's, but still... weird.

I have masses of nasturtiums on my allotment and again they came from old plants dumped on the compost heap. They self seed every year and I have to pull a lot up. I try to cull the huge sprawly ornage ones because they overtake my vegetables but I let the more interesting colours do their thing. I have a rather nice deep velvety red one, some almost brown ones, some lemon yellow ones and some with variegated foliage. I think they have developed from being crossed by the bees with other peoples' nasturtiums on neighbouring plots.

Nasturtiums won't grow in hot places (especially where nights are hot). They also cannot tolerate freezing. They like air-conditioned weather. So, basically the entire south will find them difficult to grow, unless you start them in winter and plant them out when frost is past, or start them in fall and you have a long enough autumn before they freeze. The yellow climbing ones were the ones I had the best success with in Florida and Texas.

In California, they go crazy, particularly along the coast. When I lived a bit south of Malibu, I used to enjoy seeing the hillsides covered with them in bloom each spring (particularly after relatively rainy winters). In Manhattan Beach, I trained them to climb a wall, and they made a beautiful wall of foliage and flowers about 6 feet tall. It looked like a Nasturtium hedge, since they held their leaves out almost exactly the same distance from the wall. They also have a nice fragrance.

--Ron

Here are some of my nasturtiums. I have also included a few other pictures showing the kind of higgledy piggeldy mix the old English cottage garden would have had.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nasturtiums and runners