Have you ever had a Nasturtium in your garden?

This too, is from one of them seeds given to me by Green Peace. Since I got them as seeds, I had no idea what they'd become nor what kind of flower they'd have nor whether they're edible or many years ago. Well ... this is what they look like when they bloom.

I got me the usual orange and yellow ones in my backyard.

My latest acquisitions are these. I bought (yes, you read it right) these two just this year.

This is what their buds look like.

When a bit bigger, they somehow look like one of them aliens in some movies.

Or do they actually look like a T- rex with that tail like tube that holds the petals.

That tail points upward just when they are near to spread their petals open.

They look pretty sweet looking at them - front view :)

When in bloom, they look like megaphones - or I do think so. What about you ? Where can you compare them looking like so?

When they're near withering, they tend to look up to the sky as if trying to say, "I had my time to behold your beauty up there." Looking like this, they remind me of a funnel, just that they've got more holes and not just one.

The moment they're done showing off their beautiful blooms, they wilt and the petals tend to spread apart ...

and like performers on stage.. they kind'a look like taking their last bows and as if wearing those witches hats you get on halloween

s.

The petals dry up and the fruit in the middle start to swell.

When the fruit is ripe enough, the petals won't shed. It stays and just dries up with it as if the fruit suck all the juice out of it.

Once, petal - less, I pluck them off their stems and just let dry in an open container. They turn brown in the process and I just plant them next year. I could let them stay and brown outside but it's always wet and they, too aren't immune to the mildew thats going around some plants here in autumn. Did you notice that one of them seeds look like a big butt. (chuckles!)

Here are some proof they're the most beautiful weapons you could use against black aphids. Why the most beautiful? It's all organic and you won't need to spend any dime on any poisonous pesticides plus you get to enjoy a lot of benefits(_below) it has aside from the beautiful bubbly looking flowers.

I actually didn't know that till - during my first year of having them, I noticed a damselfly which is featured on one on my blogs in my website chewing one of them aphids that were freshly delivered by ants.

Back then, they were growing in pots. I realized that the black aphids seem to like them a lot so I placed each pot near the baby cherry plants they were plaguing back then. They moved to there and for some reasons, the Nasturtium must be a tastier treat cause finally, they've left them baby cherries alone.

It's not just black aphids you can repel with these and here's the proof.

This is why I planted them around the baby apple plants, too.

Some summery days this year, I saw two cabbage butterflies courting each other. One of them had its wings wide open and its butt pointing up while the other was hovering on top of it. I suppose they were mating and had to stop because I went close by trying to take a video. A few days later, I found these tiny creepy crawlers. Are these the cabbage butterflies larvae?

An old friend of mine paid me a visit on it's first year in bloom and she asked me for seeds. I promised to give her a few and she told me then that the flowers could actually be eaten, the seeds, too and so are the leaves. I've never really eaten the seeds but had the flowers and the tiniest of them leaves added in soup or salads.

What do they taste like? A bit spicy but mild. The scent is similar to that of the sap that comes out of a papaya fruit when you pluck it off the tree. My husband loves munching on them so I often have to say, save some for my bee friends please and some to seed.

These days, I don't have to say that too often because they flowered like crazy and seeded a lot.

Have you got Nasturtiums in your garden, too?
Do you use it for cooking, too?
What else can you actually do with this plant culinary and cosmetic wise, care to share in the comments below?
Thank you!

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