Re: Tropaeolum speciosa

tnottle@picknowl.com.au wrote:
> 
> We have just planted out 3 different cvs. of Lapageria rosea on a similar problem wall at our place. In the Southern Hemisphere that means SE facing position with v. little sun but cool damp soil. So far they have grown vigorously, which in itself surprised mne no end as theoir reputation id for being very slow. We just cut the bottoms out of their plastic pots and planted the whole thing into a hole with old compost liberally dug into the surrounding soil and at the bottom of the hole. Maybe they would be worth thinking about in your situation.
> 
I would just like to endorse Trevor's suggestion, as it appears you are
looking for a substantial climber and Tropaeolum speciosum  definitely
does not come in this category, but is simply a herbaceous climbing
perennial which produces slender new stems each year from its
underground rhizomes. Books devoted to climbers simply don't mention it.

In New Zealand it is only really happy in districts with a cool and
relatively moist summer (rhododendron country in fact)and it is like the
lilies in liking its "feet" in the shade and the flowering shoots in the
sun, so it does well growing  through a shrub or tree and poking its
faces out between the branches. I had it for a while but it never liked
my garden, which can be quite hot and certainly dryish in summer. I do
much better with T.tricolor which has even more slender stems which grow
anew from small potato-like tubers each spring and flower for a very
long time against a fence in a fairly sunny site at the back of a border
of minature shrubs and similar garden treasures which keep its roots
cool.

Moira

-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, 
New Zealand (astride the "Ring of Fire" in the SW Pacific).
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