My Favourite Plant at this Time of Year.

looks absolutely gorgeous!

Oh David this is a beauty and you know I think the trouble is it looks so delicate.

The best places seen it growing are damp wet sheltered spots on Yorkshire moors and Northumberland.

Being nasturtium related it suggests that dry sunny spots might be best when in fact the opposite is true .. to see it growing through yew trees with bright red flowers then purple berries is natures version of christmas tree lights ..

Enjoyed your blog. Wow - that photo of Innes' leylandii hedge with the tropaeolum growing over the top shows how spectacular it can look.

What a wonderful plant. I've never seen this before. I enjoyed your blog David. I love the photos of the tropaeolum growing through the conifers. I wonder if it would survive here?

I've never seen it before either. It looks wonderful on that hedge.

Tropaeolum is one of those odd plants, for some folk it grows like weeds others, no matter what they do, can't get it to thrive. We are in the former category but have banned the plant from the garden having seen how it can completely take over. Friends in Aberdeen have to hack theirs back on a regular basis and I swear it will take over their neighbours gardens soon.

Gilli though it looks like a delicate little thing if it grows for you it is a tough as old boots. Don't see why it shouldn't grow in B.C.

That looks fabulous, I've never come across it either.

Fab pics David....I have one......in a pot....just in case...lol

That's absolutely beautiful David...never seen anything like it before. That hedge is spectacular.

Wow! Just..........wow!

any yet another Wow! i've never heard of it before, doesn't that hedge look stunning?

Am glad my favourite climber at this time of year has produced a few "wows". :)

Moon grower, you obviously have the right conditions for it - too right - and I agree, I would think that this would thrive for you in BC, Gilli, if you find one. It seems that planting in the shade of trees or hedges makes this climb even more vigorously to reach the light. Have seen plenty of these far beyond the generally stated height of 10 - 15ft!

Bb, I agree, looks can be deceiving. Wouldn't this look fab if it bloomed over the Festive Period? Many Thanks for the info on where you've seen this growing. I'll ask Innes if she'll begin a "berry watch" soon, and will try to get a nice pic of them (well, I'll make any excuse to visit her garden, see my fave plant of the moment, and sample some homemade jam, lemon curd or cakes - she is a fab baker, and often brings in fresh scones, etc., with her own jams, to work, to help us all get through the day). :-)

l also don`t know this vine but certainly like what I see in your pics its fabulous.........

It reaslly is a stunner, Lincslass!

Alice, are you keeping yours in a pot in case it escapes and grows wild? haha! :-)

Thanks Moon Grower. I did a google search and found that I wouldn't be able to overwinter it outside here. As it can take over a year to germinate, that kind of rules it out as an annual too. LOL.

That's a real shame, Gilli. Must admit to not having considered your winter temps. :-(

One of the drawbacks of this area. Shame....what I need is a heated greenhouse/conservatory. :o)

I loved your blog David....this is also my fav climber this time of the year...im taking little pieces of it and potting them up each spring...then planting them along the large conifer hedge at the back of my garden, which belongs to the people behind us...im trying to achieve the same effect as Innes....not doing too bad actually....i have some pics of mine if you would like to look...thanks again...:>)

Great photos, David. I knew it as the Chilean Flame Flower but I'd never heard on it under the name of Scottish Flame Flower.

I have seen it growing in the middle of Spain, in Cuenca, where we used to live. It looked every bit as good as those you photographed, only it was growing up a wall on the drainpipe. I wish I'd had a digital camera back then, or, better still, one of our modern mobiles. My phone takes some very good photos, better than my digital camera! It looked stunning as well.

Motinot! - Fab pics, and well done, you! Am green with envy! :-)

Balcony, Many Thanks for your comment. I am enjoying the Spanish connection, as it fits in with my chocolate and chilli researches. Wish you'd had a camera, have never tried taking pics on my mobile, must admit. :-)

Some mobile phones take very good photos, better than some digital cameras! My mobile is new this year, (1st change in years!), it takes very good photos.

When I see the photos I've taken with my digicam they look "flat", there seems to be no "depth" to them. I've had the camera for 5 years but, although I used it very often, I never felt happy with the quality of the pictures, compared to the old film camera I used to use the digital images come out bad. I scanned 100s of photos into the computer & a lot of them looked better than from the digicam which wasn't cheap when my wife bought it for me, it cost her around £200 back then.

My neighbour has this plant! Says it took 3 years to comr to anthing though! It looks great now!

Good to know - perhaps I've been a bit impatient with the cuttings/rootings I've been given in the past. Can you get your neighbour to train some over into your garden?

£200 - wow! I might just stick to my £80 Olympus, lol! :-)

Too far away, it's not the next door neighbour!

Give it time ( and not 2 much, Mp). It'll reach you soon!

:~))

I can,t believe this ... wow .. it's so annoying to see so much of this beauty growing abundantly ..

I bought a packet of seed last year and so did a friend who can almost always grow anything , mine didn,t grow and neither did his ... it was almost £ 4.00 a packet .. as he is a senior on a pension he was very disappointed so I decided to write and complain .
The company sent us a new packet each but it still didn't grow .. ..

Probably better to get plug plants, Amy!

I would If I could Madperth :o)

Going to a flower show on Sunday, if I see any I'll grab one for you & send it down! Or I COULD crawl to my wierd neighbour & try to get you a cutting!

Did anyone see Gardener's World last Friday? There was one of these plants growing in a conifer hedge in a garden they visited! I immediately thought of David & his blog on them!

I used to see them growing up a drain pipe in a garden in the town in central Spain where we used to live. It impressed me then. Shane I didn't have a digicam back then or a mobile that can take excellent photos!

I dont think my telly's been on since i got onto GoY!!

I actually saw it on the BBC iPlayer a few hours later as I was on GoY, too!

Never thought of that!!

That's what it's for after all: "Making the unmissable, unmissable" as they say!

Would you really Madperth , that would be brilliant .. :o)

Thanks Balcony!
Yes Amy, of course I would! I'll let you know if I have any success; if not, I'll try to talk David into another trip to Pitlochry, they sell them at the Explorers Garden!

Thats so kind of you Thanks very much ... :o)

No worries!

Balcony - So nice to think that you thought of my blog whilst watching a national TV gardening "institution". :-)

Amy, and Marie - nigh impossible to grow from cuttings, am afraid! You really need rooted runners. In the past, have nearly always been able to walk into a garden centre here, and pick up a plant, but not this year, for some reason. Wanted to take one with me to Somerset when visiting Spritzhenry's open garden day, but just didn't get one. Even our national garden show had none for sale this year, much as I searched.

Marie, you don't have to "sweet" talk me into a return visit to that garden! But, as this vine does die back, hope we find something worthwhile - otherwise, wait until Easter.

:-(

BTW! The IPlayer recording of the "Gardeners' World airing, featurng this plant, was picked up under Sprtizhenry's blog on this plant "De Trop? No!", and I am saving this one for tomorrow night!

:-)

David, you've dashed my hopes! EASTER???????
Tho I would welcome a chance to go back to Pitlochry! As you know, I LOVED that garden! I couldve wandered round it all day! Think they'd lay on the lumberjacks again? LOL!!
As for the institution, what better place for you? They might cure your Blyton tourettes!!

Still havent looked for Iplayer!! Am trying to tidy the hovel, but still to get shelves up in craft corner, so a losing battle!
MIGHT be getting a visit tomorrow from both halves of Sanbaz!!
She's going to Aberdeen, taking her son to Ab Uni's open day, so I've given her an invitation to drop by!
So its a bottle of wine & gardener's world for you tomorrow?
Ok for some! I'll be filling out & posting my disclosure form & trying to work out buses to Uni next week!

Now, Marie, I admit that I say "Fab" all the time and write blog "tours" but to connect both the way you do.........?

" Sanbaz" in Perth? How "chilli-chocolatte" is that???????

Not 4 moi, tomorrow - am working 13hrs :-(

I'm not a lumberjack, so don't give a "toss" (get it?)

Will you have time to work out the bus route, with your already busy schedule, I wonder?

Goodnight, must go, up at 5.30am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ha ha!! Its the YIPPEE! That gets me!! LOL!
Yes, hopefully she can persuade Baz to stop off!
:~(((( on the lumberjack! Nearly wrote limberjack!
Dont work toio hard tomorrow! Im STILL waiting for a verdict from Peter &/or Ajay on the badge thing!!
I dunno if I have time, but I need to know!!
Talk tomorrow, hopefully!

Marie, and Amy, am sure that a return visit can be arranged sometime soon, to get that plant. I want to visit Blair Castle grounds, too. :-)

Oh, I forgot about that!! Oops!!
Could always set off earlier!
I'll have more idea what I'm doing after next week.
We've got a new GoYer in Perth!
And I'm blethering!!

Are you bletherin' to the new GoYer in Perth?

I meant in general!!
But yes, I'm meeting her on Friday after work, as I'm working near her house then!
So there! :~)D~~

Tropaeolum Specosium is my absolute favourite plant, in part because of it's fickle nature. It can bve pretty hard to establish alright, but once it gets going, the flame creeper can just pop up anywhere, lighing up an unsuspecting shrub metres away from the planting site. Mine owns a part of my garden under an amelanchier tree, where it has died out of the original spot, and spread far elsewhere. When I planted mine, I dug a really big hole (in limey soil which it's reputed to dislike), under this tree (i would plant it under something decidious that casts a dappled shade, like a birch perhaps, in a very sheltered spot|). I filled the hole almost completely with brown gold compost and leaf-mould (great for anything woodsie) and just a little soil, and it never looked back. Despite its appearance, this is a real woodlander and likes it cool and the soil niot necessarily rich, but with lots of organic matter. I have had no success moving divisions of the plant elsewhere, butit seeds around if happy and the seedlings, though delicate, don't mind being moved. If all else fails, may I reccomend Tropaeolum ciliatum, a yellow cousin, which is not as beautiful, but far easier to grow.

Welcome to Goy, and many, many Thanks for taking the time to post this great advice re location and soil preparation for Trop. speciosum. Glad to read that yours has "taken off". I remember member Andrewr posting a pic of Trop. ciliata, but have never seen it for real. :-)