Pinellas
>Gene and Bill - thank-you both for being so enlightening. Arisaemas
>sound like they might make for some good reading! Are pinnellas (Bill,
>this might be spelled wrong;) ) related in some way?Tamara
Pinellas are closely related to Arisaemas and look like smaller versions of
some of them. They are supposed to be easier to grow (I have trouble with
both) and at least some Pinellas come with a warning that they seed
themselves around enthusiatically. I tried Pinella tripartita several
years ago and it grew for one summer but did not come back. Since it was
not particularly impressive, I didn't follow up. Maybe a vole got it.
Arum europaeum does well for me. Leaves and flowers appear in earliest
spring. The spadices look like little mouse tails sticking out of the
foliage. Arum italicum is also good here and seeds itself, but not
abundantly. The leaves are beautifully marbled and are around all winter.
The spring flowers are short-lived but spectactular with a large,
cream-yellow hood about 8" tall. The whole plant dies back in summer
leaving a large clublike cluster of bright red berries.
Other Araceae: Elephant Ears survive the winter here if the corm is buried
deeply enough. They do not reappear until June, though. Wintered-over
specimens get even bigger than spring-planted ones. Caladiums love our hot
summers but must be started in heat, or they will rot. One or two cold
nights will stunt them if you put them out too early. Sauromatum guttatum
is also hardy, I now have a big clump of this. Amorphophallus konjac has
survived at least one winter and is getting bigger all the time. The
flower is said to be over four feet tall, and, as one local put it "smells
bad enough to stink a dog off the gutwagon."
Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills@hsc.edu>
