Tropaeolum 2013- 2014

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Tropaeolum PELTOPHORUM beginning to flower on my balcony.
I assume this won't last for long as temperatures are now seriously colder...
JP

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Jean-Patrick,
thanks for your help.
Unfortunately T. ciliatum behaves here like T. speciosum behaves in Scotland!
cheers
fermi

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

This is the greetings season so I'd like to offer Tropaeolum seeds of which I have some stock:
- Tr Argentinum
- Tr Huigrense
The latter is an annual which can have a huge developement in warm conditions ( a glasshouse ). It is self fertile so one can expect a good harvest if flowers are produced. Picture of this species is attached.
Anyone interested please send me a message.
JP

[Lesley Cox]

Here is Tropaeolum speciosum which I'm happy to have romping around various things in the garden; a huge pear tree which also has a large ivy climbing through it and over several camellias and rhododendrons. It is classed in New Zealand as a pest and it is, in fact, illegal to buy, sell or distribute it. Not illegal to GROW it and if it loves your conditions you can't get rid of it anyway. I'm OK with that.

[TC]

For over 20 years I have tried to grow this with absolutely no success.  It barely lasts a year and then disappears.   I bought another large plant from Logan gardens which is still in a large pot in the greenhouse and has now rooted through the bottom of the pot.  Come Spring, I will have to think of a suitable place to plant it....fingers crossed !   It is most annoying to see it growing like a weed in other gardens.  It SHOULD grow here but does not.
Conversely, my eccremocarpus grows outside with no problems.  I see it in sheltered glasshouses and mine has taken two severe Winters in situ and races away when the days lengthen.  It has been flooded, covered in snow and survived the ground being frozen to a depth of 30 cms for a couple of weeks and still sails through all weathers.  I cut back all but one stem last Spring and it broke away from half way up the stem.
My seedlings yellow/red are like mustard and cress and still growing slowly in the unheated greenhouse.
I must be doing something right but I do not know what !

[Lesley Cox]

Tom, maybe if your T. speciosum has rooted through the bottom of the pot, THAT'S where it wants to be and perhaps would be best left alone? The thin rhizomes will presumably creep along to come up somewhere nearby.

I at last have replaced (thanks to a gift of a few seeds from a friend) the true nasturtium (of course I don't mean the TRUE Nasturtium) (T. majus) 'Empress of India' and will have a picture in a day or two when a few more are out. For a number of years this form has been listed and distributed by a few seed firms but the plants which resulted were way too big, semi-climbing which the E of I isn't, with scarlet flowers but not the sort of sombre scarlet it should be with a darker centre, single instead of semi-double and with almost clear green leaves instead of the stunning blue-black foliage of the Empress. These do go a little toward green in the mature plants but always retain a dark, almost sinister look. I'm not a great grower of annuals but this one has always been a favourite until one year it got too dry and didn't set seeds which always come true, if the plant is true in the first place. T. majus is not an annual but because it is tender in its various forms, it is mostly grown as such and is so easy and quick to raise from seed that there's little point in protecting it from frosts. On Otago Peninsula which has a unique microclimate, especially on the inner harbour side, nasturtium grow rampantly on the cliff faces are are gorgeous almost all year round with several other annuals or monocarpic plants including some glorious Echiums. I have high hopes of gathering quite a lot of seed from the Empress and if so, will mention it here later on and anyone interested at that time.... The E of I grows as a swag and so is an excellent plant for hanging baskets or tubs where it can tumble over but it doesn't climb.

[ashley]

Lesley, what I have as 'Empress of India' (from Chiltern Seeds some years ago, here) doesn't match either of your descriptions fully.  Yes plants are small and non-trailing, with blue foliage, but flowers are clear scarlet-orange and single   Certainly very different from the reddish-brown of 'King Theodore' which also has blue foliage & compact habit.

[Lesley Cox]

Hi Ashley, I was thinking of you on New Year's Eve as I listened on our local Concert radio programme to part 1 of 20 (!) from a 2013 chamber music festival held in County Cork? West port? Westbrook? something like that, and wondered if you had been to any of the performances. Is it an annual event?

Looking at my E of I I have to say it is the purest red imaginable so my description above of the colour was perhaps a bit out when I said "sombre" but I had that quick impression I think because of the almost black lines which radiate out from the centre, especially from the top two petals. I don't think it would be right to say it is orange-scarlet at all, just pure scarlet. And it is not FULLY semi-double I suppose, just with a couple of extra bits on the lower half and I hope these can be seen in the picture below. I like the Chiltern seeds one in your link but theirs certainly looks as if it has just the 5 petals and nothing extra. So who knows? I've no idea now where mine came from originally but it was a local rather then northern hemisphere source. I really like their 'Indian Chief' and 'Black Velvet.' They should be importable so I may write to Chiltern Seeds.

[ashley]

Happy New Year Lesley!  It could be either the West Cork Chamber Music Festival, mainly at Bantry House on Bantry Bay, or perhaps the Festival of Chamber Music in Westport, Co. Mayo up in the north-west.  The one in Bantry is renowned, so happy listening.

Your plants do look like mine, although I've never noticed those extra petals before so resolve to be more observant next year

[Argentea]

Leslie,
I planted  N. "Empress of India' about 5 years ago, (Seattle, Washington) and have never had to replant as it always  seeds in situ with no assistance from me whatsoever.  I'm amazed, as sometimes we can get a cold snap, usually in December  , down to ,say,15Farenheit, and the silly things still germinate the next spring. I've raised 'Indian Chief' and 'Black Velvet' as well, and 'Empress' is the only one to return faithfully. Go figure.
I used to raise Trop. polyphyllus is my old garden, but my soil now is too rich, retains too much moisture, and not sandy enough for it.
Trop. speciosum I had to eradicate , as it was frighteningly  happy in the garden.
Rick K  in a so far mild winter in Seattle.

[Lesley Cox]

Rick, I wondered how you were getting on, on the west coast of the States. We've been hearing a lot about the appalling conditions in the east and the middle. I'm glad you're not too bad but I suppose it's early days yet. I guess Seattle's climate would be ideal for T. speciosum.  A picture below of the Empress as she is at present. There is plenty seed starting already but I also want to do some (very easy) cuttings as a precautionary measure. Dunedin's climate is also conducive to year-round blooming of the common nasturtium forms and on the Otago Peninsula in particular (part of the city) orange and yellow forms scramble over the cliffs even in winter and are a cheerful sight to see on a cold, blustery day with chilly white horses sending water over the inner coast road.

[Argentea]

Leslie,
Chuckling here. When the rest of the country gets slammed by record conditions, we , very often ,are the opposite. Of course, driven by affects of the Pacific, versus the Atlantic coast. It's often the difference between day and night. True, we're not out of the woods, weatherwise, but tomorrow it's going to be in the low 50's F. This is January!
Tropaeolum speciosum is no problem here in Seattle. Last year,Tropaeolum hookerianum ssp. austropurpureum  bloomed in november/ december for me. I put it in the greenhouse after it began to flower, as I wasn't taking any chances.   Sadly , it left me shortly thereafter, but at least it did what it was supposed to.
If only I could get Bomareas  to do more!
RickK

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Here's a brand new year and following the other topics, my first 2014 pics about my favourite plants.
Tr MORITZIANUM and Tr HUIGRENSE grown in pots to restricted dimensions at Lyon's BG
JP

[Lesley Cox]

These are very nice Jean-Patrick.

Maggi, would it be possible to put other recent Tropaeolum post all together with that above, with a 2014 label? We're getting a bit over supplied.

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Tropaeolum ARGENTINUM is producing new flowering stems in Lyon's BG glass house.
The plant had completely stopped growing in october / november.
JP