Tropaeolum 2013- 2014

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Hi Maggi,
You're really incredible!!!
As Graham Buchanan-Dunlop gave his authorization here are the 2 pics he sent for publication to the TN letter and which I've scanned.
In fact the serrato-ciliata section contains many species which are very close to one another. They are not well known to us . There are some pics posted on the internet from time to time but it's difficult  to make a correct identification.
Peter,
Hope you'll find it nice enough for giving it a try -even if the seeds are very old...
JP
 

[Maggi Young]

Happy to help, J-P. 

It does look an interesting plant. It would be quite a triumph if these old seeds were to germinate and  grow well so we could enjoy fresh photos of it - I'll keep my fingers crossed!

[PeterT]

Amazing research Maggie, JP.
I shall do my best with it.

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Tropaeolum Hermine Grashoff & Margaret Long have flourished this year at LYON BG.
Good exposure & good soil have been the keys.
Wonderful carpets of flowers...
JP

[Steven McFarlane]

Hi

I have a small number of seeds of T. pentaphyllum ssp. megapetalum. If anyone would like a few please contact me in the next few days.  After that they will go to the seed exchange.

Steven 

[Maggi Young]

Hi

I have a small number of seeds of T. pentaphyllum ssp. megapetalum. If anyone would like a few please contact me in the next few days.  After that they will go to the seed exchange.

Steven 

That will be exciting news to tropaeolum lovers who marvelled at your super plant shown in Dunblane at the SRGc Summer Event and featured in Sandy Leven's report on the day : http://files.srgc.net/Showreports/SRGCSummerevent2014.pdf     

[Steven McFarlane]

Hi

Here are a couple of pictures of T. moritzianum.

This is my only plant this year.  While it has obviously grown well  as yet I have no seed and am unlikely to be able to bring it through the winter.  I will soon bring it inside and perhaps get a few seeds that way. I have also got a small rooted cutting.

Steven

[Maggi Young]

A glorious plant with those very elaborate flowers - what a shame you're not getting seed. Good luck with the cuttings.

[Graham Buchanan-Dunlop]

Hello Steven,
Congratulations on a splendid (and very healthy-looking) plant of T. moritzianum.  Those flowers are completely captivating and remind me of a miniature firework display.  I used to grow it in the 1990's from seed collected in Venezuela by W.H.C.Ramsbottom.   The main problem in cultivation I found was that, although seed germinated readily, in order to get it to flower and set seed by the end of the summer, I had to grow it under glass.  Grown under glass, it was prone to attack by virus (presumably spread by aphids) and the whole plant was ruined and failed to flower.  Although cuttings strike quite readily (as you have found) I used to have difficulty nursing them through the winter.  I wonder where your original seed came from ?  I gave all my material to the National Trust, but I am not sure that anything survives from that.  Good luck with your efforts to keep it going.  In my opinion, it is worth any amount of trouble to keep it in cultivation.
Graham

[Steven McFarlane]

Hello Graham

And welcome to the forum.  My original seed of T. moritzianum came from Guy Sisson in 2002.  Guy ran The Plantsman Nursery near Okehampton.  He eventually moved the business to France but I do not think that the nursery has survived.  Seed does not germinate reliably (sometimes only after a full year) and even when it does it can be difficult to get the plant to produce fresh seed in our cool and short summers. It is however a good plant with amazing flowers.  I will keep trying.

Steven

[Graham Buchanan-Dunlop]

Yes, I remember Guy Sisson's nursery well.  He had a wonderful selection of climbers there.  In fact I gave him his original seed of T. moritzianum, so I am fairly sure that all plants of this species grown in the UK in recent years will have come from the Ramsbottom collection made at CUMANACOA, VENEZUELA, in February 1997.
This is a lesson to us all to distribute plant material as widely as possible, with the aim of keeping a particular species in cultivation and insuring against accidents.  Heaven knows, the growing of Tropaeolums is constantly fraught with disaster !  It would be good if Guy Sisson was still growing things in France, but I have been unable to track him down.   Sounds as though you might be the only person growing T. moritzianum in the UK now.  Has anyone else anywhere got it
Good luck.
Graham

[Jupiter]

I grew a nice plant of moritzianum here in adelaide two years ago, although not as spectacular as yours Steven. I sowed seed last season and didn't get a single germination. I think I have the pot somewhere as I don't usually throw them out for a couple of years at least. 
My seed came to me through the generosity of Jean-Patrick.

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

The wonderful Tr MINUS scrambling on my balcony...and still flowering!
JP

[Maggi Young]

That is a November treat.

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Tropaeolum PELTOPHORUM
This annual species is flowering for the 2nd time this year in one of LYON BG's glasshouses. Self seeding each year.
It has a huge developement.
JP