I hope no one minds me reviving this thread. I've been growing Tropaeolum for a few years now and have had mixed success with them. The perennial, tuberous species do quite well in our climate zone, but drainage needs to be very sharp and it's necessary to keep them dry after dormancy and before they emerge in mid winter. I grow them in large glazed pots and use scoria in my propagation mix, coarse sand, peat and amend the mix with rock dust, an Australian product called FCRD (Fischer creek rock dust). Many of the annual species from lower altitudes are much easier to grow, seed can be sown any time from autumn to winter and will flower in spring and summer.
Regarding the discussion on Tropaeolum lepidum, it may be a hybrid of azureum with another species as they hybridise quite readily. The pictures you posted John are almost certainly Tropaeolum hookerianum ssp. atropurpureum, which I have grown and have seedlings of again this year. There is a bit of confusion around the genus but there was an excellent article published by John Watson and Ana Flores, in September 2010 in Curtis's Botanical Magazine which is well worth getting for anyone interested in the genus.