'Milkmaid' climbs through the garden and summer kitchen with cream-white flowers
Cream-white flowers, peppery-spicy flavour and lush growth - 'Milkmaid' is an elegant nasturtium for naturalistic gardens, raised beds, containers and climbing supports.
Nasturtium 'Milkmaid' is an unusually pale-flowering variety of garden nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus). Its flowers appear in a soft cream-white to delicate ivory tone, giving it a much more understated look than the usually bright orange or red nasturtiums. It is precisely this pale flower colour that makes it a special variety for romantic cottage gardens, edible flower mixtures and natural-looking plantings.
Garden nasturtium originally comes from South America, where various Tropaeolum species had long been known as culinary, medicinal and useful plants. It reached Europe in the 16th century and quickly became a popular garden plant. Its rounded, shield-shaped leaves, long tendrils and striking flowers made it attractive, as did its versatile use in the kitchen. The leaves, flowers and young seed pods are edible and have a pleasantly peppery, spicy flavour reminiscent of cress. The flowers are suitable fresh for salads, herb butter, cold platters and decorative dishes, while the still-green seeds can be pickled and used as a caper-like seasoning ingredient.
'Milkmaid' grows as an annual, climbing to trailing plant and can also be trained upwards with a suitable climbing support. Without support, it spreads loosely over beds, raised bed edges or containers. This variety is not only interesting in the kitchen, but also a beautiful companion plant in the garden: its flowers are often visited by insects, while nasturtium is also traditionally used as a trap crop for aphids.
