PlantFiles: Chilean Potato Vine, Chilean Potato Tree
Solanum crispum 'Glasnevin'

I've grown this plant in my zone 8b Seattle garden for four years and it's doing great. It's covered in blooms from May to October and keeps its leaves year round. The stems are a little brittle and it benefits from growing on a support or through other plants. It's a vigorous grower but responds quickly to heavy pruning with a flush of new growth and blooms. It survived a week of heavy snow and several cold snaps down to 15F this winter and even retained its leaves. A great addition to the garden.

I work in Ladner, BC and we have a beautiful Chilean just down the road from our office. This plant seems to be doing very well, although it is only about 2.5m tall and 3m wide. We're in Zone 7b, so don't despair if you live below Zone 9a!

Very impressed with this plant - only purchased it a year ago, and it's tripled in size and covered in flowerbuds at the moment. We grow it in dry acidic clay against a sunny wall, and it's thriving. Lovely thing.

I purchased a Chilean Potato Vine from our local garden centre approximately 3 years ago. I planted it alongside a 200 year old outbuilding on our farm here in West Wales, facing South East.

The soil at the foot of the wall was quite poor. The plant did fairly well. In the second year I applied a pile of used 'potting compost' (i.e. that had been in various containers the previous summer) to the surface. The plant really took hold and thrived.

We pruned it this spring, and this summer it has gone 'bolistic'!! It has always had a good cover of lovely flowers every summer right through to Autumn (Fall).

What amazes me is the size it is growing to. It has outgrown the height of the single storey building we planted it against! The spread is relatively controlled being about 3-4 ft at present.

This plant has been really easy to grow, is very pretty and is also green in Winter. We are just 4 miles from the West Wales coast (Cardigan Bay) so have a relatively mild climate - but we do experience quite severe cold weather as well. Especially occasional bitterly cold Easterly winds which hit the plant full on. I have found other supposedly hardy but exotic plants have failed - including Phoenix Palms ... despite protecting them in Winter. But the Chilean Potato Vine seems unaffected!

Soil in our area tends to be acidic, but I've tested various areas within our 12 acres and found most to be mid-range PH. The soil at the foot of the old stone wall is probably relatively dry. I watered it initially, but now it's root system is well established it doesn't seem to need watering.

I have to say I'm totally delighted with this plant. It looks great and seems to thrive on neglect!

I now intend taking soft wood cuttings so that I can plant it elsewhere around the farm - to detract from the corrugated sides to the barn and so on. Hopefully with similar success.