Re: Arum Italicum
Don --
If you don't already know this, it may ease your mind to know that the photo
used in most catalogues -- the one with the orange berries surrounded by
white-speckled leaves -- is a fake, a hoax made up years ago the old
fashioned way before digital software: the photographer took berries from A.
italicum, surrounded them with Calla leaves, and snapped the photo. In the
"real" world the mature berries and the leaves of A. italicum are never in
the same place at the same time -- by the time the berries begin to form,
the leaves have gone dormant and are quite gone by the time the berries
ripen.
The past few snowless winters have been very good for Arum italicum in these
parts. People tell me it can actually be quite weedy (sorry!) but that
wouldn't hurt my feelings. Perhaps you have an overhang or some such which
creates a snow-free -- or, at least, snow scarce -- area. I have mine
growing in a spot where the front porch awning keeps the leaves reasonably
free of snow through all but the heaviest snowfalls. Also, the plants
always put up new leaves in the early spring so even if the leaves from the
fall don't carry through you'll have new leaves March-May, just prior to
blooming.
Dean Sliger
Warren, MI, USA
Zone 6B
Don Martinson wrote:
> >I have yet to find anyone up here in Wisconsin who successfully grows
> A. italicum. It looks so pretty in the catalogs, but the fact is
> that it "wants" to grow over the winter and be formant for most of
> the summer, blooming in fall. I believe they would do well in the
> San Francisco area and south.
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