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Every April, for over a hundred Aprils now, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has been ritually festooned with nasturtium vines. The museum's courtyard is a lush, surreal, artifact-strewn garden, and Bostonist spent an otherwise- rainy Monday afternoon there to watch as delicate vines were hung from the interior balustrades in anticipation of Mrs. Gardner's birthday on the 14th. (She'll be 169 years old.) Tended by Chief Horticulturalist Stan Kozak, each vine is fifteen to twenty feet of orange blossoms, historically-appropriate varieties, and painstaking cultivation.
A newer floral tradition is currently being observed in the museum's cafe, where nasturtiums will show up in the salad (and chamomile in the panna cotta) until the 19th.
The Gardner's web site offers some nasturtium recipes from Peter Crowley, chef & owner of the Gardner Café, including the following easy method of flavoring vinegar with your own flowers:
Nasturtium Vinegar
1 cup unseasoned rice wine vinegar
10 nasturtium blossoms
Simply steep blossoms in vinegar at room temperature in a closed container for at least one week. Strain and use as you would any light vinegar. Vinegar will be best between one and three weeks. The vinegar will have a mild peppery and vegetal aroma and flavor.
Hanging Nasturtiums will be on display until mid-April, Tuesday to Sunday, 11 am to 5 pm, at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 280 The Fenway. Access to the courtyard is included in museum admission: $12 adults, $10 seniors, $5 students, and free for children under 18 and anybody named Isabella.
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nice pictures! i wish i had a courtyard like this in my house...
so that brookline thieves could break into it and steal all the nasturtiums?
I was sorely tempted to steal a nasturtium blossom, invent a floral cocktail, garnish said cocktail with stolen flower, and name it The Gardner Heist. because I think there needs to be a cocktail called The Gardner Heist.
I think I know what Sam at Drink will be up to on Sunday. You heard it here first, folks.
If I can find some edible flowers to purchase!
http://cocktailvirgin.blogspot.com/2008/09/nasturtium-bitters.html
jinx.
nasturtium bitters!
i think if i could afford this courtyard i could afford a better (any) security system. and i would not build this gardner-courtyarded house in brookline, not by a long shot. i might, however, make nasturtium bitters for my personal enjoyment.
These pictures are beautiful.
Nasturtiums are really easy to grow, and they come up fast. The plants are frequently planted in gardens, because they attract aphids and other pests away from stuff like tomatoes and lettuce.
Will they come up and bloom by Sunday?