Tropaeolum tuberosum 'Ken Aslet'
Rodger Whitlock (Tue, 14 Jun 2005 21:56:42 PDT)
On 13 Jun 05 at 16:29, Mary Sue Ittner wrote:
Who was Ken Aslet? I see this name attached to that
Oxalis with the nice leaves that never blooms and now a
Tropaeolum. Does anyone know?
John Bryan answered your explicit question; let me shed
some light on the implicit one. That oxalis of yours is
correctly Oxalis purpurea 'Ken Aslet'. It has soft yellow,
not purple flowers. [The specific epithet implies purple
flowers, which might be worth having in its own right.
Anyone got it?] The plants of O.m.'KA' here arrived under
the name Oxalis melanost(r)icta from Avon Bulbs many years
ago. It flowers from time to time -- seems to need a good
drying off during summer. Fully hardy, having survived
here for over a decade in an unheated coldframe, some
winters without any cover. And Victoria *does* get serious
cold snaps once in a while.
My Tropaeolum tuberosum, no cultivar name, lived for a
couple of years without blooming before it went to bulb
heaven. So you are way ahead of me.
Perhaps twenty years ago, the "ordinary" form, grown from
seed, flowered profusely here, climbing up into a Yellow
Transparent apple tree. I didn't realize how unusual this
event was. It seemed to relish the thick layer of organic
mulch (pure compost over dreadful heavy blue marine clay)
it was planted in.
--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate
on beautiful Vancouver Island