David Victor wrote, >I saw your note about germinating Tropaeolum. I grow quite a few and >generally follow Norm Deno's idea on them. He says give them four weeks >at 70F, followed by a period at 40F. They then germinate within a few >weeks, but need to be kept cool until the stem starts to emerge. Then >they can be potted up, but very carefully. They are threadlike and very >brittle at that stage. In my experience, a lot of seeds from dry temperate South America germinate best if stored at room temperature (around 70F, that is) over the summer and then planted in fall and exposed to outdoor temperatures (not freezing but quite cool, here) for a month or two. Rather than germinating them as David apparently does, in moist paper towels or some such, I think it's better to plant them in a seed pot right away, because, as he says, the seedling stems are quite fragile. They will grow on happily through the winter, kept in a frost-free location, and go dormant in early summer, one hopes having formed tubers if adequately nourished with liquid fertilizer. Jane McGary Northwestern Oregon, USA