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Anyone grow tropaeolum speciosum (flame flower)?

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  • #1

    Anyone grow tropaeolum speciosum (flame flower)?

    I've seen this in gardens I've visited and love it. Thought it would be great to prettify my fugly leylandii hedge.

    Chiltern Seeds sell it but it's always out of stock. A month or two back I had an email saying it was back in stock, but by the time I looked (approx 1 hour after the email) it had already sold out again. Now it's back in stock again.

    Germination instructions are so fiddly - file it, sow, warm place, freezing place, cool place, wait for months. I must admit I had thought it was perennial but apparently it's only annual, according to Chilterns. Is it worth it? Does it self-seed?
    Last edited by Mitzi; 04-01-2019, 04:52 PM.
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  • #2
    RHS site implies it's perennial as it says "Time to ultimate height: 5-10 years"

    I'm on acid clay but on a slope so it drains.

    Sod it, I'm ordering.

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    • #3
      Definitely perennial once it gets going, I bought a plant as it seemed fussy from seeds. It needs an acid soil to do well, so ideal under a conifer hedge, where the pine needles keep the soil acidic.
      Good luck!

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      • #4
        Difficult to propagate and difficult to get rid of once it's established but such a cutie

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Aberdeenplotter View Post
          Difficult to propagate and difficult to get rid of once it's established but such a cutie
          I can’t imagine wanting to get rid of it. Sounds like my difficulties won’t be over even if I succeed with germination.

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          • #6
            I've just looked it up- I don't think I'd worry about being over run!

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Scarlet View Post
              I've just looked it up- I don't think I'd worry about being over run!
              Scarlet one of the times I was visiting the RHS Gardens in Edinburgh they were stripping tropaeolum from their hedges and it took at least three trailer loads while I was there, it is difficult to establish and like all nasturtiums it does well in poor soil, I have also heard, it grows better from cuttings if it is borrowed without permition
              it may be a struggle to reach the top, but once your over the hill your problems start.

              Member of the Nutters Club but I think I am just there to make up the numbers

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              • #8
                I've seen it growing like a weed at Edinburgh Botanics and it looks lovely. I therefore know it is possible in my neck of the woods.

                However I've tried twice from potted plants. First time a snail ate the whole plant before I could even get it planted out. Second time it grew for a season, looked fine, but never came back the following year. Neither plant was cheap to buy so I haven't tried since. I've since moved and may give it a go in my new garden. Growing from seed - sounds like a good option.
                Mostly flowers, some fruit and veg, at the seaside in Edinburgh.

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                • #9
                  I have tried it twice but I don't think it likes the climate down here as much as it does in cooler and wetter places.

                  The first time I grew it it struggled the first summer and didn't come back the second year.

                  The second time I tried, it came up the second year, a couple of yards away from where I planted it! Unfortunately it was in the way there and I killed it trying to move it somewhere else.

                  I am tempted to have another go, it might be happy scrambling through Pyracantha and Cotoneaster?
                  My gardening blog: In Spades, last update 30th April 2018.
                  Chrysanthemum notes page here.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Martin H View Post
                    I have tried it twice but I don't think it likes the climate down here as much as it does in cooler and wetter places.

                    The first time I grew it it struggled the first summer and didn't come back the second year.

                    The second time I tried, it came up the second year, a couple of yards away from where I planted it! Unfortunately it was in the way there and I killed it trying to move it somewhere else.

                    I am tempted to have another go, it might be happy scrambling through Pyracantha and Cotoneaster?
                    Did you buy a plant or grow from seed?

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Mitzi View Post
                      Did you buy a plant or grow from seed?
                      I think I bought a plant both times.
                      My gardening blog: In Spades, last update 30th April 2018.
                      Chrysanthemum notes page here.

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