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29th May 2011A fabulous, hardy, scarlet flowered climber that I have long wanted to grow in the garden. It has a reputation for being difficult to establish it, and I have never succeeded or persuaded it to flower in a pot. Kenneth Beckett said in the JRHS: "Although not commonly met with in British gardens, the flame creeper, T. speciosum, is undoubtedly the best known of the perennial species and the easiest to obtain commercially. Unlike all the species mentioned above, it needs a moist acid soil and light shade to do well, coming as it does from the high rainfall area of southern Chile. It is a forest plant, sending up climbing stems 10 to 16 feet in height (3 to 5m) from deeply buried slender rhizomes. In some localities, both on the mainland and the island of Chiloe, it is quite common, lacing together the taller shrubs and small trees and garlanding them with neat leaves formed of five oval leaflets. Later, its host plants are set aflame with showers of scarlet flowers. The latter are eye-catching not only in colour but from having two small, narrowly wedge-shaped somewhat reflexed upper petals and three larger almost square lower petals carried on very long stalks allowing the star-shaped outline of the sepals to show through and form an eye. As the flowers fade the fruits swell rapidly and on ripening turn blue thus adding to the attraction of this very garden-worthy plant. Although hardy in most of Britain the flame creeper thrives best in the cooler wetter areas. It is seen to very best advantage when running up through a small-leaved evergreen such as yew and adds a touch of beauty to a sombre hedge." |
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| 10th May 2009 | ||