I have recently bought one of these. Does anyone else grow it? Have you gotten it to flower? What conditions do you grow it in? I have read that it likes to be damp.
OMG! Skunk cabbage. I think I've seen it growing in Cornwall but only the leaves, it looks weird in flower, to say the least!
http://www.desirableplants.com/ I think their list has closed, or does so at the end of the month. But it should be there when they open their sales in autumn again.
Fortunately (or not!), quite a few plants were out of stock. I will have to order earlier in the season next time
Some people aren't so keen on it: This is an excerpt from Plantlife's document concerning invasive plants: "Invasive non-native plants Plantlife believes should also be added to Schedule 9: American skunk-cabbage Lysichiton americanus Asian skunk-cabbage Lysichiton camtschatcensis Evergreen (Holm) oak Quercus ilex False-acacia Robinia pseudoacacia (currently only listed in Scotland) Himalayan knotweed Persicaria wallichii Large-flowered waterweed Egeria densa Ludwigia x kentiana (L. palustris x repens)" If it was me, instead of forking out megabucks to get it posted from some nursery or other I'd take a holiday in Cornwall with my little trowel. You'd probably be doing the countryside a favour. They even get a footnote in the document: "American skunk-cabbage Lysichiton americanus & Asian skunk-cabbage L. camtschatcensis These plants are very commonly grown as bog garden plants and are widely available from garden centres and nurseries. They are commonly mistaken for each other and have the same invasive behaviour in the wild, so are treated here together. Most plants in the wild probably arise though the dumping of garden material, as colonies quickly outgrow their space in most gardens. It is likely that some wild populations have become established from seed dispersed from nearby gardens. Introductions are probably a combination of deliberate dumping of surplus garden material and unintentional movement of seed from gardens. Given the popularity of these plants in gardens and their continued introduction into the wild, it is likely that these two plants will increase. They can out-compete native plants and cause extensive damage locally." Hmm. Try and keep it in a pot, I'd say.
I ordered from HG a couple of years ago, and their stuff did really badly. Hardly anything survived more than a year or so. Needless to say I won't order from them again
Lysichiton and Symplocarpus, while both being hardy Aroids,are very different. Lysichiton is easy to grow, and is easy to get hold of. Symplocarpus is difficult to get hold of, and this leads me to suspect much more difficult to grow.
That tends to be a pretty good rule of thumb. Oh! Must admit that one of the Gloriosa that arrived last week is poking through already, so maybe I got lucky.
Sorry about that, I just looked at the term skunk cabbage, just shows how important it is to use the Latin taxonomic names.
