Re: A Not-So-Titan Arum

>Hello Barb,
>     For those of you who are fascinated by weirdness and stink in the garden,
>there are alternatives to the "corpse flower"  Considerably smaller, 
>but does not
>require a green house, doing fine in the open garden is Sauromatum. Blooms in
>April here in all its strangeness. Stinks up the garden just fine 
>thank you. It is
>now sending up spotted stalks with leaves resembling something from 
>the tropics.
>Quite a show. Next, and in bloom now in the garden, is the "Devil's Arum" or
>Dracunculus. About 4 feet now, variegated foliage, large leaves, 
>bloom about 18
>inches in length. Yep... stink is there.
>     Gene Bush     Southern Indiana    Zone 6a     Munchkin Nursery
>           around the woods - around the world
>genebush@otherside.com     http://www.munchkinnursery.com

I can grow Sauromatum venosum (now renamed Typhonium venosum, but 
still commonly called a Voodoo Lily), but for some reason, I have not 
had success with Dracunculus vulgaris.

However, another of the interesting aroids in this same group is the 
Snake Lily (among other common names), Amorphophallus konjac.  See:
http://www.execpc.com/~llmen/amy.jpg  flower
http://www.execpc.com/~llmen/konjac.jpg  foliage of small plant

These are generally hardy only to about Zone 7, although they do 
quite well potted and brought into the basement, where they remain 
dormant until late spring.  The foliage of a mature specimen 
resembles a small tree and reaches 3-4 ft tall (just extrapolate from 
the picture of the small plant, above).   You can see (sort of) from 
the first picture the size pot in which I grow the larger plants. 
The blooms are spectacular in their ugliness and aroma!

If anyone is interested in trying this interesting plant, please 
contact me privately, as I have a number of small corms that I would 
be happy to share.



-- 
Don Martinson
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
l*@execpc.com


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