Tropaeolum

[ashley]

Welcome Dora; great to have you join us    
I must say that if you are using a translator, it's a very good one.

What beautiful and well grown plants these are!

[Jupiter]

Hello Dora and welcome. You know me already, I'm your friend in Australia whom you sent Tropaeolum azureum seeds to, remember?    It's good to see that you haven't lost your touch - those hybrids are beautiful.

[Maggi Young]

A warm welcome Dora/Emiko ..... many of us have already enjoyed visiting your website, thanks to Stephen!
Great to see your photos here

[maggiepie]

Michael, your argentinum is wonderful, I love the leaves.
What is the clematis you have growing with it, it looks like a viticella of some sort.

[maggiepie]

Hello Dora, your Tropaeolum are absolutely beautiful.
I look forward to seeing more of them.

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Hello Dora ( Emiko )
A warm welcome to this fantastic forum...which is going to be extraordinary with your contributions. You have perfectly grown plants and such incredible hybrids...So could you tell us about your growing conditions? We are longing for your comments and look forward to learn more from you!
Cheers
Jean-Patrick

[DORA]

Hello!
fermides, ashley, Jupiter, Maggi, maggiepie, Jean-Patrick,
many thanks for your warm welcome message. I'm very glad to be here.

Jupiter, I remember you. Did any strange flowers appear from my azureum seeds?

I grow Tropaeolum mainly in my small veranda in Osaka. There are 1 veranda(south side) and 1 roof balcony(north side).
I have a summer house in Nagano pref., some pots of T.pentaphyllum, ciliatum, incisum, polyphyllum are placed there throughout summer.
I've never seen their flowers　without pentaphyllum. I wonder why they can't flower.
Max temperature is about 29C. It's too high for them?

In September I place all the pots in roof balcony. Every time when I find gemination, I repot and put them there again.
In December I bring them to veranda. I have no greenhouse. It's OK in Osaka. Many plants grow in small place.
In February they start to bloom. Many bees are visiting in warm days. They are the artist. Thanks to them, there are many hybrid born.

To prevent from crossbreeding, I placed azureum pots in roof balcony when they started flowering last season. I don't know it worked well. Maybe I'll see the result this season.

I gave many tubers to my friends in my country last month. They say that some of them have begun to sprout.
It's amazing that they know the proper season to start growing. But interesting thing exists. There are some tubers
never wake up through one season. Some of them die at last but there are ones wake up in the next season.
How about your tubers? Have you ever seen such a thing?    My T. beuthii No.3 is so.

Kind regards from Japan,

DORA

[Ragged Robin]

Dora, what a pleasure to see your Tropaeolum growing beautifully you must have have magic green fingers    From your description I imagine your roof balcony and veranada as a paradise for your plants and the bees obviously think so too    Welcome to this Forum and I look forward to finding out more about how you grow plants in Osaka.

[Lesley Cox]

Welcome to the Forum Emiko. We love to have new members in new countries and I think you are our first member in Japan, the home of so many sought-after and choice plants.

Your Tropaeolums are truly beautiful. Than you for sharing them with us.

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Hi Dora
About the tuber dormancy this may seem strange but is frequently reported by growers. this happens not only for Tropaeolum. I have one Tr Beuthii which grew only once and has been staying dormant for 3 years. The tuber had been checked and is still in good health. Osaka seems to be THE place to grow these plants. And you have 2 exposures ( one south & one north )
About Tr Polyphyllum, Tr Incisum & Tr Ciliatum, it's a bit more difficult to grow them in pots. You have a summer house so why don't you plant these directly in the ground? What are the minimal temperatures in Osaka? and in Nagano? Tr Ciliatum will become a weed ( many contributors in this forum can attest it ) if planted not in full sun ( roots in the shade ). Tr Incisum & Tr Polyphyllum are Andean species and you must try to mimic their Chilean  conditions: build something of a rock garden, plant the tubers deeply in the ground to protect them from cold spells. The soil must have a very sharp drainage and the plants should be ideally exposed to sun during the cold season when they begin to shoot deeply underground. They usually emerge in December/ January ( in EUROPE ) and grow more freely when spring arrives. One problem might be a very hot spring ( and early summer ) which might decide the plants to go dormant prematurely.

Hope this will be of some help to you

Cheers

Jean-Patrick

[Jupiter]

Dora the azureum seed you gave me grew true to type. I haven't planted any more since the first germination as I have the tubers now. I'm glad they weren't a hybrid as I wanted the species form for my collection.   We have just moved house so all gardening has been put on hold for a season. Next season I intend to propagate a lot of Tropaeolum seed and make myself a nice area in the garden for the collection. There's a lot of work to do here but we out grew the last garden and it's good to have more space.

[DORA]

Hi

Ragged Robin, Lesley Cox, many thanks for your welcome message.

I'd like to keep this paradise for bees as possible as I can.
Every spring it's a big pleasure for me to see a new hybrid.

Really? The first member of the forum? It's my honor.
How wonderful forum here is to be able to talk with worldwide members!

Jean-Patrick, thanks a lot for your useful advice.
Your T. beuthii has been staying dormant for 3 years! It's surprising.
Today's pic is my beuthii No.3 from SRGC seed, that has rather strange flower, both shape and color.

The minimal temperatures in Osaka is -4C and in Nagano is -15C.

In Nagano ciliatum and speciosum can tolerate winter. I've tried to plant them in a ground.
Every summer they don't grow well and there are no flower buds, though their leaves are green and healthy.

In Osaka they grows little by little even in winter. But in May or June leaves become yellow and they seem to be dormant.
Only twice I could see one or two flowers of ciliatum.

It's incredible that ciliatum will be a weed in my country. The weather is so different, I think. Maybe too hot to thrive.

I will try to plant incisum and polyphyllum this year in Nagano, following your advice. They will tolerate winter.
The problem will be summer, as same as ciliatum and speciosum. How about the temperature of dormancy? How do you think from
your experience? If it's under 25C, I will not be able to see their flowers forever in Japan.

Jupiter, I'm glad to hear that you could see the true blue flowers from my azureum seeds.
I'm looking forward to seeing your Trop. collection in your new garden.

Kind regards from Japan,

DORA

[Maggi Young]

 Dora, you are our second registered forumist from Japan.... we are delighted that you are the first to begin posting and showing photos!  

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Hi Dora, As you can read all along this topic there are a lot of growers who succeed every year with Tr SPECIOSUM This species, as you probably know prefers a cool summer and thrives in the UK and Scotland ( it is called "the scottish flame flower" ). It needs a neutral or acidic soil and thrives scrambling through Rhododendrons. Can you grow Rhododendrons in Nagano? Tr SPECIOSUM likes the same growing conditions. In LYON where I live it flowered once during a particularly cool and rainy summer. So don't give up! The soil must be cool but not overwet and a bit porous( not too compact )as indicated earlier in this forum. Roots in the shade & head in the sun ( or full light ).
About Tr POLYPHYLLUM & Tr INCISUM you must have a try remembering their native Chilean conditions ( growing on screes in high altitude ) . Why don't you ask Susan BAND of PITCAIRN ALPINES for Tr INCISUM? She offers and grow successfully this one and could give you useful advice.
Best regards
Jean-Patrick

[DORA]

Hi

Maggi, thank you for letting me know the accurate member information. 
Anyway it's a great pleasure to hear from friends growing Tropaeolum.

Jean-Patrick, thanks for growing tips every time. Yes, I read this thread and I'm very surprised at the fact that some of Tropaeolum are weeds. And I think there are some hints of growing about environment where they become weeds.

"Cool summer" is the most difficult problem in my place, I think. In my Nagano garden there are 3 Rhododendrons(Rhododendron dilatatum). I'll try to plant T.speciosum near them in future. I have no speciousm now, so I must grow it from seed this year.
You know, their germination is so irregular that there is no guarantee to get plants soon.
Anyway I just keep trying to sow their seeds until I get some plants.

I examined the climate of Lyon on the Internet. Because averages of the highest temperature are 27 degrees, it is near the climate of Nagano.  So I don't give up now. Thank you!

About T.polyphyllum I attempt the first experiment planting them ground this winter in Nagano. The tubers begin moving now.
I plant them in deep place(20-30cm depth) where are filled with soil for Alpine plants.(mini rock garden)

Thanks for the information of PITCAIRN ALPINES. I googled this site and found Susan's e-mail. I'll write an e-mail.

Kind regards from Japan,

DORA