What's looking exotic in June.

Pete - I am amazed at the thought that Dracunculus vulgaris is totally hardy. Though totally hardy in Kent may not be the same as hardy in Yorkshire. However it suggests that it tolerates colder weather and this may be why its quicker to get out of bed than some.

LongK and Kristen - thanks for the info.

I have an Arisaema speciosum that is already in flower and has decent sized leaves (I am told that in fact it is all one leaf). But my Arisaema tortuosum is only an inch high. I was worried that the A. tortuosum wouldn't appear at all, as it was so late, until I read that it is naturally a late starter.

Presumably this must just be a matter of temperature - the tuber cannot be aware of day length or anything else if its buried. I find a light box does wonders for giving seeds an early start, so why couldn't we have a heat box to do the same for tubers and rhizomes? Like a seed, presumably once a tuber has started into growth, it has commited itself, and must continue even after removal from the heat.

 

I'm pretty sure Dracunculus is hardy Peter.

I might be talking rubbish, but a lot of these types of plant flower before leafing up.
So if its going to flower it will begin growth earlier than a tuber that is just growing leaves.

 

No Pete you are not talking rubbish , lost mine in 2010 winter , but i reckon if it would have been in a dry soil and some mulching would have sure survived like the 3 years before , but yes hardy plant .I `ve never replaced because my miss just didn`t like it and small bad as well , but impressive plant.

 

Yes hardy, but needs to be dry. Lost several offsets as a result of cold and wet. So just safer grown in a pot. Next year I'll just sink the pot.

 

Pete - I was thinking about heat in respect of things like my Arisaema tortuosum, another Aroid, which has only just started to move.

LongK - please do tell me about offsets. Should I be expecting some from my Arisaemas ? and how many ? and presumably you can seperate them and grow them on but it will be a while before they are big enough to flower?

 

Yes , at the end of the season you should find 2/3 small bulblet , found 6 last year out of 3 bulbs , left them in sand to overwinter , lost 2 (i can`t find them) and this year they are almost half the size of the original bulb. It always nice to get small plants and swap them at the end of the season.

 

Lost a Trachycarpus fortunei to rot today, a fairly sizeable one too.. there is now a huge gap in the garden to fill.. so the answer to this thread is not much at the moment here!

 

At least your sense of humour remains.................

 

My A.tortuosum bloomed ages ago! A.costatum is only just doing it though.

As far as offsets go I never get any on my Ariseama. Maybe I'm too conservative and should put them in the ground, but having lost too many to winter wet I'm reluctant to do this again.
Dracunculus on the other hand produces offsets willingly in pots! They grow separately.

 

Sal and LongK - many thanks for the info on offsets.

Sal - I thought I replied last night - but obviously didn't press the post button.

LongK - its interesting that you A. tortuosum has already bloomed. As I said mine is hardly one inch high. Which brings me back to the thought that we need heat to start them off.

 

Very much the case, although A.speciosum did it for me weeks ago without the heat........

 

Mine too ... but I had expected it to put up a flowering stem first?

 

RE. dracunculus
Mines never been kept dry, its in fairly heavy clay on the allotment.
I'm wondering if the problem might have more to do with slugs eating the tubers rather than cold and wet.

 

Stephen, never heard of that before, I have small seedlings surviving everything the winters can throw at them.
Was it newly planted?

 

Could be..............

I've just never had any joy with them in the ground over the winter, even before the last couple.