Jim McKenney wrote, >Tropaeolum brachyceras began to bloom here today. I feel as if I have been >promoted to a higher level of the gardening experience. It is common for this and other Tropaeolum species to "sulk" for a year from time to time, with no ill effects, as Jim mentioned. I once forgot one in a paper packet in a cubbyhole in my desk, and it sat there for more than a year before I found it; planted, it revived and eventually flowered. Coming from very arid parts of South America, these geophytes are well adapted. Also in flower here (sorry, I am not one-upping you, Jim) are the frequently grown T. tricolor and the infrequently grown T. hookerianum ssp. austropurpureum. The latter is a small, frail-looking species like T. brachyceras, and this particular plant, from Watson & Flores seed, remained dormant last year after flowering heavily for the first time the year before that. It has bright violet flowers similar in form to the bright yellow ones of T. brachyceras. I find these plants flower best if they are able to climb up a support, so I stick a twiggy branch in their pots. As far as I can see, these small trops never increase vegetatively and must be raised from seed. The seeds have elaiosomes (fleshy appendages) that attract ants, so if I don't catch them in time they are transported around the bulb frames, and the trailing, delicate stems of the seedlings have to be spotted and avoided during weeding. Regarding Adam's question about its cold-hardiness: This winter large plants in full growth in the unheated frames lost their top growth when the outside temp. dropped to 14 degrees F, and I did not have them wrapped; however, I suspect the tubers are all right, because the stray seedlings growing between the pots, which had their stems right on the soil surface, did not freeze back and a couple are flowering. Plants in the wild probably experience occasional light frost, but they tend to grow up through dense evergreen shrubs where the foliage is protected. My interpretation is that the plants are fairly cold-hardy as long as they're not wet when they freeze; that's why I grow a lot of "perfectly hardy" bulbs under cover. Jane McGary Northwestern Oregon, USA