Nasturtium 'Purple Emperor' is a unique and unusual variety with intricate colouring! These elegant
buds open as dark burgundy then fade to shades of dusky rose, providing a classy and vintage look. Its trailing habit makes it ideal to use as ground cover or cascading out of a patio pot or a container on the balcony.
Each beautiful bloom has a splash of yellow in the throat of the flower and the leaves and flowers can be used in homemade salads for a peppery taste, similar to rocket leaves! These leaves can also be used to make pesto, for homemade Italian dishes too. Or how about pickling the seed pods? This can create the traditional 'poor man's capers'.
Culinary information: The peppery flavour of the leaves and colourful flowers will enrich salads and the unripe seeds can used like capers – delicious combined with cream cheese or butter in canapés. For more details about edible flowers.
Sowing Information
Sow directly into moist, warm, weed free soil where the plants are to flower 13mm ( 1?2") deep. Germination normally takes 7-14 days. As the seedlings develop thin to achieve a final spacing of 25cm (10"). Alternatively, seeds can be started off 3-4 per 7.5cm pot and kept on a sunny windowsill until the last frost has passed.
Nasturtium 'Purple Emperor' is a unique and unusual variety with intricate colouring! These elegant
buds open as dark burgundy then fade to shades of dusky rose, providing a classy and vintage look. Its trailing habit makes it ideal to use as ground cover or cascading out of a patio pot or a container on the balcony.
Each beautiful bloom has a splash of yellow in the throat of the flower and the leaves and flowers can be used in homemade salads for a peppery taste, similar to rocket leaves! These leaves can also be used to make pesto, for homemade Italian dishes too. Or how about pickling the seed pods? This can create the traditional 'poor man's capers'.
Culinary information: The peppery flavour of the leaves and colourful flowers will enrich salads and the unripe seeds can used like capers – delicious combined with cream cheese or butter in canapés. For more details about edible flowers.
Sowing Information
Sow directly into moist, warm, weed free soil where the plants are to flower 13mm ( 1?2") deep. Germination normally takes 7-14 days. As the seedlings develop thin to achieve a final spacing of 25cm (10"). Alternatively, seeds can be started off 3-4 per 7.5cm pot and kept on a sunny windowsill until the last frost has passed.