Back to square 1?

I once heard, on a radio garden prog. that you had to buy/plant Tropaeolum speciosum before you succeeded with it.
All my gardening life I have maintained  - Do NOT, on any account allow your plants near a book; that way they have NO idea how they ought to behave.
I logged we bought it in Jy '15. Saw green in May '16. Reached almost waist height by Oct '17, then appeared to die.
Found this a day or three ago, let's hope for better behaviour this year.
I see I may have a brace of bonsai Taxus baccata fastigiata Standishii or hybrids as an added bonus.