TROPAEOLUM TUBEROSUM

Peruvian Nasturtium – plant of Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador – long cultivated on Peruvian Andes for tuberous roots (ysano) yellow and red – cooked and frozen before eaten. Women of LaPaz are very fond of this frozen dish.

So are my hummingbirds, only they receive sustenance from the blossoms, not the tubers. These little guys just love the vine growing on the fence at the back of my mobile home, and this year it has grown like crazy, considering how little space it has to do so. It is on both sides of the fence, and is even sending very long shoots under the trailer behind me. Also, it is growing in a pot, so I find it quite amazing that it puts on the show that it does.

I am always a bit sad when the vine has finished blossoming and it dies back for the winter. I have had this plant for several years. It was purchased when I went with Chris and Becky to a tour and plant sale at the Occidental Art and Garden Center, a wonderfully interesting and beautiful location quite a distance north of here. The flowers that were blooming the day we were there were amazing. The hillsides were a mass of flowers, from huge poppies, to multi-colored iris (my favorites). I can’t begin to remember all of the great plants that I saw. I had never seen some of them before, and I learned a lot that day.