Scottish Flame Flower

[tryingthings]

I am new to this forum, my name is Marie-Paule and live in Belgium, I am not that keen Gardner that I love to be, but I try (ingthings) ;-). Once I had a tropaeolum speciosum but because of working in the garden I' lost it. So can I ask if someone can help me please, to find someone who haze them for sale.
Best Wishes 
Marie-Paule

[Maggi Young]

Hello, Marie-Paule, good to have you join the Forum!
I would be able to dig a root for you later in the year, but you will find some ofthe nurseries listed in the Links pages you stock it, if you are in a hurry! http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?action=links;cat=1
 

[Anthony Darby]

I must get some of this? It must do alright in Dunblane as I see it coming through hedges nearer the town. I have tried it but suspect I haven't found the right place in the garden for it?

[Lesley Cox]

It can be a right pain this plant Anthony. It loves you or hates you and even if you provide EXACTLY the conditions it loves, it won't necessarily grow for you On the other hand, it can be an awful weed but I wouldn't mind that, if only it would TRY HARDER for me.

[jomowi]

This plant prefers a cool moist shady spot, its all through one of our beds and spreading elsewhere rapidly.  You may find that after the first year it disappears only to return a few years later.

Brian Wilson

[TC]

As Lesley says, it either likes you or hates you.  I have been trying to grow it for 35 years and have failed miserably.  It lasts a year and then disappears.  The head gardener at Geilston, where the plant grows like a rampant weed, moved some of the plants further up the bed where they were growing and they would not grow in the new position.  The soil was the same, the growing conditions were identical, but the transplants failed.  Her advice was to sow seed and with the genetic variation, a few might come through.

[Anthony Darby]

I had planned to sow some seed, but the house down the road, which has it growing through an evergreen hedge, changed hands and the hedge is vigorously trimmed so you rarely see the flowers and never the fruits.

[fermi de Sousa]

I had planned to sow some seed, but the house down the road, which has it growing through an evergreen hedge, changed hands and the hedge is vigorously trimmed so you rarely see the flowers and never the fruits.

Ask nicely and someone might send you some.
here's a pic I took when we visited Susan last year in NZ.

cheers
fermi

[David Lyttle]

It is considered a noxious weed here. It is well established in some bush reserves and has proved almost impossible to eradicate. We are trying to prevent it becoming established on the Otago Peninsula. Every plant we locate we take the GPS co-ordinates,remove any flowers to prevent it seeding and treat the plant with a dose of herbicide. These treatments are followed up the next season.

[Lesley Cox]

While I am still trying - in vain - to grow it at all! I had some seed from Susan same day as Fermi's picture but nothing up yet.

[David Lyttle]

Lesley,

For your information Tropaeolum speciosum is listed on the National Pest Plant Accord

The National Pest Plant Accord (the Accord), developed in 2001, is a cooperative agreement between the Nursery and Garden Industry Association, regional councils and government departments with biosecurity responsibilities.

It identifies plants that are unwanted organisms under the Biosecurity Act 1993. These plants cannot be sold, propagated or distributed in New Zealand.

So if I am reading the information on the website correctly Susan does not necessarily have to destroy her plant (even if she could get rid of it) but she can not sell, propagate or distribute it. She stands a better chance of staying out of jail than you do Lesley; they do not allow internet access in the pokey!

[Lesley Cox]

Oh well, I'll consider my fingers smacked then. Since no-one gives a s.... about the hundreds of hectares around Dunedin (including my neighbour's place) about a much worse pest, ragwort, I doubt if they're going to be bothered by my half a dozen ungerminated seeds.

The Accord, while well-intentioned, doesn't take into account local conditions, climate etc. Cobaea scandens for instance, may well be a pest in the warmer parts of the North Island but here, the first hint of frost and it's stone dead.

[Susan]

I spend half my life trying to eradicate the pest. Rake it out of trees before it seeds etc, but the roots go down really deeply and even when you think you have finally got it, it reappears some years later.  In fact I even managed to kill a Lapageria once, when I got the herbicide too close - and it only slowed the creeper down for a year or two.

I think that the birds help to distribute it.  Why is it know as Scottish Flame creeper here, when I believe it comes from Chile?

Susan

[Lesley Cox]

Perhaps because it arrived here from Scotland, and almost certainly because it does so well in many Scottish gardens on account of cool, moist soils.

[Maggi Young]

Tropaeolum speciosum is even known as the Scottish Flame Flower here in Scotland, though it does come from Chile..... with its capacity to become rampant, it can make huge displays when it is happy and so has been given the name because, I suppose, folks see more of it in Scotland than elsewhere