Tropaeolum (Tropaeolum brachyceras)

Tropaeolum
Tropaeolum brachyceras

A little over 2' tall and still growing and producing more and more flowers

It's beautiful! Is there a common name? Can it be bought in the U.S?

Thanks woodspirit (BTW, I like your nickname).

The common name in Chile is 'Soldadito Amarillo' (Little Yellow Soldier). That is because they flourish in a row and it looks like they were ordered by size.

Tropaeolum tricolorum (a Chilean native as well) is called 'Soldadito' (Little Soldier), because of the same reason and the colour of the uniforms our soldiers wore 100 years ago (red and blue, with bronze buttons).

Last year and early this year I sent many seeds to the USA, but have none left. Unfortunately, the place where I collected them has been fenced to build houses. I must find out where else to find them, because right now is the season they start producing seeds.

Let me know if you want seeds and I can contact you with a friend in the USA that has probably seeds left to trade. My plant in the picture will probably produce some seeds too.

Greetings from Chile in Spring,

Ursula

Very good picture, Ursula. We will be planting the seeds we received soon inside and have them ready to plant in the spring. You will be receiving a "collectable" in about a month.

trois

Trois, thank you so much.

I see your zone is the same as mine. Sow the Tropaeolum seeds outside - they need some cold to germinate. You will notice they'll germinate mid to late winter. Don't transplant/pick during their first year. Seems best to sow them in individual pots.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for the 'collectible' to reach me! Thanks!

Ursula, That is very beautiful. If you do have seed on yours and have some extra, I would like to trade for them. Fingers crossed.

I'll be watching my plant, busybee!

Hi Ursula,

Marvelous !! Stanning color !!
Thank you so much for sharing .
TheTropaeolum brachycerus seeds you sent me
are now germinating and growing well.

I sowed them on Sep.14 and germination took place on Oct. 16.
I'm really looking forword for their blooming !

I do appriciate your sending me excellent seeds.
This was taken yesterday . The young seedlings .

Tomtom




This message was edited Nov 8, 2004 8:03 AM

Hello, TomTom!

Your seedling looks great! I sincerely hope they reward you with lots of flowers. The plants I have were not planned LOL. The seeds (or maybe the little tubers?) were in the compost I bought for my pots. Nice surprise, isn't it?

Have you been shaken with the earthquakes lately?

Hope everything is fine.

Ursula

Ursula,

Nice surprise indeed ! How lucky of you !
I do wish I could get such a compost ,too LOL

Thank you for your inquiry .
My family and I are all right.
The quake-stricken area is far from here.
Pray with me that everything will get well Soon there !

Tomtom

TomTom, you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers. Hope everything gets quiet soon. According to our 'statistics' (a big quake every ten years or so), we 'are due' a big earthqueake since 1995 and expect it to happen any minute. From time to time we have sequences of tremors that remind us to be alert.

Have you heard from goldenfish? I haven's seen her posting lately.

I was visiting your web-page between my previous post and this one. You have a 'magic touch' to bring colours and textures together! I wished I was able to read those beautiful japanese characters!

Ursula,Thank you for keeping my family and me in your thoughts.

I haven't heard from goldenfish either .
Hoping that no news is good news.

I do appreciate your visiting my site.
How long will it take before I could open the English version?
Did you obtain a new camera,I wonder?
Recent photos of yours are simply gorgeous !

Tomtom

Hello, TomTom!

This is the story of my brand new DC:

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/450243/

Isn't it wonderful?

Ursula

Ursula,

What a heart-warming story !!
The most appriate gift to the most appriate person !
Keep posting wonderful pics for us.

Tomtom

Thanks, TomTom.

I also started posting pictures taken by my friend Ricardo Martini. He is a prospection geologist and has to visit the most incredible places in the Atacama Desert. Fortunately, he loves plants and makes lovely pictures. Keep your eyes open!

Ursula

As I said before, I do not have any seeds left, but ....... I sent a lot of these to a very dear friend in Texas earlier this year. If you would like to trade for these seeds, please e-mail me and I will supply you the contact.

Happy trading!

Ursula

Thank you Ursula,for your generous offering .
I have eight seedlings and that's enough at the moment.
I also have T.tricolorum seedlings growing from the seeds
you sent me.
I 'm looking anxiously forward to their blooming !

Tomtom

Ahh, TomTom, isn't it rewarding when you get the first blooms from a plant you have grown from seeds? No wonder we call them so often 'our babies' LOL

Remember, according to my reference books, both Tropaeolum species should only bloom the second year after sowing.

Ursula

Ursula,


>Remember, according to my reference books, both Tropaeolum species should only bloom the >second year after sowing.

Thank you for the useful info.
Like you say my tricolorum didn't bloom last year but formed an excellent tuber.
I started this year form the tuber.

This is the tuber.

I think I saw a picture in your web page, of a pot with a protruding red tuber under the Tropaeolum tricolorum link. How big is the tuber?

Once I tried to drag a T.t. tuber (in fact, the whole plant) from a plant found in the wild. However the tubers are known to bury themselves very, very deep in the soil and it was impossible for me to find it.

Is it already Monday for you?

Ohhhh...I 've fogotton to measure the tuber !
I grow Tropaeolum all in the containers to keep them from the cold.
I have found thier tubers alway at the bottom.
To my great suprise, the T.tricolorum tuber was found quite near the surface .

Yes ,it's Monday morning here.
Tomtom



This message was edited Nov 15, 2004 9:56 AM

Just an approximation of the size will do. Would you say it was the size of a pea?

T. tricolorum and T. brachyceras are home in zone 9b and require some cold to germinate (mine germinated right in the middle of winter - outdoors).

For us it is 10 p.m. Sunday!!!

Ursula

It was about 3cm across.
I have a question to ask of you.
Do you have much rain when this Tropaeolum germinates
--I mean , where it grows wildly?

Tomtom

Sometimes we have winters with a lot of rain and others with very little rain. I think the most important thing is to provide very good drainage. Soggy soil will probably rott the tuber.

Thompson and Morgan suggests to lay the pot on its side during winter, so that they do not get too much water.

Does this help?

Ursula

Thank you for the info.

My T.tricolorum tuber had geminated easily in the dry soil.
I had placed them under the dry shelter .

But last autumn I failed to germinate all of T.azureum and T.lepidum(tubers),
though I carefully kept the soil from getting soggy.

This autumn I watered more than last year .
And 7T.azureum tubers germinated out of 9 and one was rotten.
So I wondered if they need much water when they germinate.

Tomtom