Arisaema

[Eric Hardy]

Anthea and I have stayed three times in a B & B in a converted old mill in the valley below Painswick, in Gloucestershire. As you can see from the photo below, Sylvia and Tony are keen gardeners. In a large polythene covered area behind the mill Tony proagates all sorts of exotic plants. What took my fancy was the arisaemas he grows. Here are three that I photographed when we were there. I don't know the name of the dark ones are but the lighter one is arisaema candidissimum


Upper Dorey's Mill


arisaema


arisaema


arisaema candidissimum

Eric H

[Palustris]

Could be anyone of half a dozen, but A. ciliatum is a possibility . I grow a few of these too. A. flavum is yellow, but the spathes are small. I will have to find the book on them and have a look through.

[Eric Hardy]

Thank you. I have just looked at A.ciliatum with a Google picture search and it certainly looks like them. It is not always easy to be certain from pictures.

Eric H

[Palustris]

Top one could be A. concinniatum. but need to see the leaves to be sure. Send me your adress by PM and I will post you some corms of A. ciliatum ,if you want them that is.

[Eric Hardy]

That is very kind of you Eric. I have consulted my wife, Anthea, who is in charge of all things to do with our greenhouse. She says that she is not an expert in these things and she thinks our greenhouse will not be suitable but I am to thank you very kindly for the offer, but she thinks not. Our greenhouse is more for growing tomatoes and bringing on seedlings for potting on and planting out. Very generous of you all the same.

Eric H

[Palustris]

Sorry did not make it clear. A. ciliatum is as tough as old boots, it comes from cold parts of the Himalayas. Plant it out in your woodland areas (bit like you would an Arum) and wait for it to flower. All the Arisaemas I have grow outside and believe me we are colder than most parts of lowland England. Even that pink one is hardy! (Don't think I havre any corms of that one spare. At £10 or so each corm I have a ready market for any that I do prodice!).
If you did want to gorw on in a pot, then again it does not need greenhouse treatment. All I do with show ones is to keep the pot in the workshed over winter without water until the corms begin the grow in spring then it goes outside and is watered and left to its own devices.

[Eric Hardy]

Thank you very much, Eric. I have sent you a separate email.

Eric H

[Eric Hardy]

Hello Eric,

This is just to let you know that the corms arrived safely after lunch today. Thank you very much indeed.

I will have to give some careful thought about their final position but would it be a good idea to start them off in pots?

Eric H

[Palustris]

Yes, I would start them off in pots. They are like Begonias, the rounded part of the corm sits on the soil. They root and grow from the hollow top of the thing. If in doubt plant them on their sides. They should potted in damp soil, but then not watered until they begin to grow (bit like Rhodohypoxiis). Once they show through the compost they can be watered as normal and planted out when they are growing strongly.

[Eric Hardy]

All duly potted in damp compost and labelled as per your instructions, Eric. I was not sure where to put the pots until they sprout (fingers crossed) but for the moment they are on the floor under the bench in the greenhouse. Rightly or wrongly I chose plastic pots because I thought they would not dry out quite so quickly. Now we just wait and see 

It has been a beautiful day here, ideal gardening weather. Unfortunately with my arm as it is just now it is just gentle jobs at the moment. Still it was warm enough for lunch and tea outdoors 

Eric H

[Eric Hardy]

Yes, I would start them off in pots. They are like Begonias, the rounded part of the corm sits on the soil. They root and grow from the hollow top of the thing. If in doubt plant them on their sides. They should potted in damp soil, but then not watered until they begin to grow (bit like Rhodohypoxiis). Once they show through the compost they can be watered as normal and planted out when they are growing strongly.

I thought I should report progress, Eric: -
Arisaema Ellatum has produce three stalks about 6 inches high with a cluster of leaves on top. (I think there were three small corms).
Arisaema Fargessii has produced a very promising looking spike about 1 1/4 inches high.
A. Flavum, A. Erubesns and A. Torutosum (??) have still to show.
I followed your instructions and am encouraged that two at least are showing. Is there any hope still for the others? I don't know what the time scale would normally be.
Thanks
Eric H

[Palustris]

A.ciliatum and fargesii sound to be doing ok. The others should be showing. Dig up the corms and have a look. They may have rotted. Fret not I will send you some more when they are dormant. I have dozens of seedlings of most of them and a fair number of last years corms growing. It was only my big plants which suffered in the winter. Nce thing is that my A candidissimum has survived and is just beginning to grow.
It is a. torulosum by the way. My writing must be getting worse.

[Eric Hardy]

Thank you Eric. I will have a gentle explore in the morning. I hesitated to investigate.
Sorry I couldn't read  . Ciliatum and torulosum, I've got them now. I read one envelopel as Ellatum. I copied them so carefully onto my plant labels  .  No wonder I couldn't find references to them 

Eric H

[Eric Hardy]

A.ciliatum and fargesii sound to be doing ok. The others should be showing. Dig up the corms and have a look.

Good news Eric. I had a little peek this morning as you suggested and I found A. torulosum and A. flavum were doing well but had not quite broken through the surface of the compost. The only failure seems to be A Erubescens which seems to have rotted. So 4 out of 5 doing OK can't be too bad 
11 weeks since planting to get to this stage seems quite a long time though. Is this usual?

Eric H

[Palustris]

Great. Sorry about A.erubescens, may be able to replace that next year, Keep the A. fargesii gomg I have lost the original.
They are a bit tardy. but some of mine are only just showing through and better late than not at all.
Some nice ones on show at Pudsey Alpine Show yesterday. Pictures will eventually appear in the Dataase no doubt.

[ideasguy]

Pictures will eventually appear in the Database no doubt.

I look forward to doing that 

I'm keeping an eye on the discussion guys. Its great to see our members swapping plants.
Perhaps we can work some more on that in future.

In anticiation, I bought this domain years ago:
http://www.swapplants.co.uk
Its parked ready for action! Currenty its pointed to my ideasforgardens.com website, but I can soon set up a small webite specifically for the intended purpose.

[Eric Hardy]

8 July 2009: Another progress report, Eric.

A. Ciliatum - three stalks with leaves on top, the tallest is 10 inches high.
A. Fargesii - 8 inches high with good leaves
A. Flavum - 6 inches high with good leaves
A. Torulosum - I have just noticed the first signs of something beginning to poke through the surface of the compost.

All very exciting 

Eric H