Monday

Rare Chilean Nasturtium Tropaeolum tricolor


Tropaeolum tricolor, Soldadito is a winter growing plant found in Chile and Bolivia, with very delicate looking
shoots appearing usually around October. The shoots twine around any support and grow to a height of around 3 Ft.
As the leaves open they are a lovely fresh green and very fragile looking, unlike the common nasturtium.
It is however the flowers that are the main interest of the plant. As the specific name implies,
they have three colors being red and blackish violet with a yellow lip, a combination that sounds like a
miss-match but on these dainty flowers is very appealing.
The long-lasting flowers appear in generous profusion and always make me think of a school of tropical fish.

After flowering the plant then goes dormant for the summer. USDA Hardiness Zone 8.
The plant tolerates low temperatures 18F and can tolerate occasional snow cover for up to a couple of weeks per year. Excellent in a container.

Digg this

4 comments:

Topfgartenwelt said...

Really interesting plant!

Jay said...

Are these related to Mashua? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashua)

-Jay
http://scientificgardener.blogspot.com

Garden Medusa said...

It sure looks like these are related to Mashua. Good catch. I wasn't aware of this!

Donald's Garden said...

Can't wait to try these!!!