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[SG] Jack-in-the-Pulpit

>The only Arisaema I grow (for now!) is the native Jack-in-the-Pulpit.  I
>have had it for several years, but it doesn't seem to spread like
>everyone else's does.

Hi, Josh.  The only place I have seen a large stand of Jack-in-the-Pulpit
was on a hillside; the trees that shaded them grew on the hilltop and at
the bottom, not on the slope where the Jacks grew.  There were paw-paws,
maples, cottonwoods, hawthorns, choke-cherry, birch, and ash, but no oaks.
The soil was clay, and there were a number of underground springs and
rivulets in the area, though the soil was not damp (neither did it ever dry
out and crust over).  This was an 'in the wild' location, one where nothing
was weeded by human hands and leaves weren't raked in the fall.  Besides
the Jacks, the most populous plant was Trillium grandiflorum.  The soil was
only sparsely populated with other plants, because of the depth of the
shade, so guess there was plenty of room for seeds to sprout and offsets to
spread.  I am guessing that perhaps one or more of these conditions
supported proliferation of the Jacks and Trilliums.  The area had always
been in a wild state, and I have no idea how long it took the Jacks to form
such a large stand, maybe many years.


Sheila Smith
mikecook@pipeline.com
Niles, MI  USA, Z 5/6
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