Hi Maureen,
I started this plant from seeds I got from Park a few years back. It was not at all difficult to start in "Jiffy" mix and grew pretty vigorously, but I must not have started early enough in the season because I did not get blooms until the next summer.
I had containerized it and was a bit tardy getting it into the greenhouse in the fall and when I realized it was going to be frozen I pulled it completely out of the soil. It had formed a tuber, which I saved in a paper bag in an unheated room along with some Dahlias and Cannas. I started the tuber into growth the following March and that is how I have maintained the plant.
I have not had much success collecting seeds from it however.
Good luck with it!
Alana

Maureen I also have grown it from seed obtained from the Seed Savers Exchange a couple of years ago. I did originally have issues with getting it to germinate. Someone suggested that I prick the seed coat with a needle, soak the seeds overnight in water, and then replant the seeds. I did so and seeds that previously had not germinated in over a month did so in a week or less. I grew the plants in a container that I brought in and kept in my garage over the winter for several years. During the winter the plant was kept on the dry side and watered very infrequently and typically lost all of its leaves, but it would put them back out once the weather warmed up some. One year in the fall I decided I had had enough of overwintering the plants and just let the plants die by leaving the container outside over the winter. I got seeds on it one of the years I grew it but it was a year where it warmed up pretty very early in the spring and stayed unseasonably hot all summer long and well into the fall. The other years I had seed pods forming but they did not mature before the plants had to be cut back to bring into the garage.

They are pretty easy to sprout. I just nick and soak them before planting. I cut mine back in the fall and winter it over inside. I also keep it on the dry side over the winter. I get very few seed pods and never get mature seeds but a friend that lives a zone warmer then me gets loads of seeds.

This is a very easy seed to sprout. Let it soak over night, put it in your starter mix, I set mine on top of the water heater and they (three out of five) grew beautifully. A couple of added notes: If you let them wind around wire they will break at the wire when they get woody and too tight. Also, if you break a piece off, just pop it in the gound and it too will grow, no special treatment. They don't really start taking off until it is really hot. They form very few seed pods (mine made two but one was on the vine that broke at the wire so it didn't develope). So, I got six seeds this year. But, I do have a plant inside, one that I just stuck in the dirt. It is very small, I move it in and out as weather permits. If the temps are at least 40 at night I let it stay out. The ones in the garden, I just don't know. I was hoping they will come back this year. Good luck, get the seeds, the plant won't do anything until it is hot anyway.

LauraNell

I have considered looking for seed in the fall, but I read on this site that rooting them in soil is supposed to be so easy. Is it??