Arisaema 2012

[Hoy]

I have never tried dracunculus in the garden. I assume they need a hot dry site during the summer and such a place doesn't exist in my garden!

However, I have started trying Arisaema the last few years. Didn't like them before . . . .  

Two years ago I lost several potfulls of very nice seedlings due to freezing during the winter. However I got more seeds from Chadwell and have several new plants in the garden this winter. Hope they cope better in the ground!

Here is one I got several years ago - don't remember the name though. Picture taken last spring.

[AmyO]

That's a beauty Trond!!  Too bad you don't know which it is...perhaps someone will chime in with the ID.

[Saori]

Mark, I am also excited about my Arisaema seeds from Chris! I hope they will grow well for us!
Speaking of A. triphyllum, I only grow two plants; one is green and white, and the other is one of the typical ones... I would love to see near solid black ones, though!

Roland, I love your 'Green Devil'! Did this selection come from your regular ringens seeds?

Trond, nice looking Arisaema, whatever it is!

Here is a picture from last spring, I can't wait for my Arisaema to flower this year!

[bulborum]

Roland, I love your 'Green Devil'! Did this selection come from your regular ringens seeds?

It was just a fantasy name for the jury to get my merite

it was from seed from a few wild collected bulbs
There is also a nice black stemmed one
probably I call that one Black devil for the jury
maybe I can make a good picture this spring
one of the dark ones is on the back-ground

Roland

[McDonough]

Trond, not sure what species your Arisaema is, but it sure is a dramatic one, most fetching! You could try going through the long and excellent thread on SRGC Forum entitled "Aroids (the family Araceae)", many Arisaema photos to wade through, maybe one will resemble yours.

Arisaema topic on SRGC, Aroids (the family Araceae):
http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=950.0

Saori, what a slender and delicate beauty that A. triphyllum is!  I find it fascinating that this species can vary so much.  A favorite spring passtime is walking around the garden, seeing the "jacks" here and there, invariably I "lift the hood" on each spathe I find, to see what the inside color and markings might be.  The soft all green ones are refreshing too.

Amy, the image of two blooms on A. ringens at Nick Nickou's garden in Connecticut shows a brown-flowered form, rather nice I think, I thought there was only a green or black form, good to know there is more variation.  By the way, I have my own nickname for this Arisaema, the Clenched Fist Cobra Lily

Roland, I can see that dark-stemmed black-flowered form of A. ringens hiding in the background, do show us again this spring, what a special form it is.

[McDonough]

I have an Arisaema species that Darrell Probst gave me, he collected it in China.  This year is flowered well once again, with it's very wide shoe-leather brown spathe, a striking form, I consider it one of my treasures.  So far it has not set any seed

I posted on SRGC where there are some Arisaema specialists, here's my original post on this Chinese Arisaema species:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=950.msg153081#msg153081

A response from an SRGC forumist, discussing A. taiwanense and A. sukotaiense, suggesting that my plant looked like A. aff. sukotaiense:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=950.msg154030#msg154030

For comparison, a photo of A. sukotaiense that does look similar, other photos seen under this name don't look as similar.
http://abrimaal.pro-e.pl/araceum/arisaema/sukotaiense.htm

And for more comparison, here is A. taiwanense as shown by David Toole, looks very different, love the long thread-like tips to the leaves. My understanding is that A. taiwanense can be taken as the type for a large and difficult group of allied species.
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=658.msg13010#msg13010

Now to some photos taken in my garden at the end of May 2011.




On the left, looking under the hood, on the right, backside profile




Overall view and the ornamental fan of leaves:

[Hoy]

Thanks, Mark! I did take a look and the most similar one I found is Arisaema elephas although the "proboscis" isn't quite the same form. The leaves are very similar though.

[Saori]

Roland, I love your 'Green Devil'! Did this selection come from your regular ringens seeds?

It was just a fantasy name for the jury to get my merite

it was from seed from a few wild collected bulbs
There is also a nice black stemmed one
probably I call that one Black devil for the jury
maybe I can make a good picture this spring
one of the dark ones is on the back-ground

Roland

Roland, it's fun to see lots of variations! Please post pictures of your 'Devil' series when you get flowers.

Saori, what a slender and delicate beauty that A. triphyllum is!  I find it fascinating that this species can vary so much.  A favorite spring passtime is walking around the garden, seeing the "jacks" here and there, invariably I "lift the hood" on each spathe I find, to see what the inside color and markings might be.  The soft all green ones are refreshing too.

Thanks Mark! My green one is still small and is not producing seeds yet, but hopefully I will get a bunch of seed soon and will be able to grow lots of variations of this species!

[Hoy]

Mark, the dark Arisaemas of yours are stunning!
Here is one I hope will grow stronger the next years. It has survived the last cold winters! A. candidissimum (sorry - a bad picture!)

[McDonough]

Not sure why, but I've never grown A. candidissimum, yours is a nice clean white form. Maybe because purchasing bulbs is expensive, and I have gotten seed of this one yet.

From google images, I see that it can be quite a good pink as well, wonder why most Arisaema have such dark lurid-color blooms (not that there's anything wrong with that, I think I'm in good company of aroid fans intrigued by the dark somber colors, often dramatically striped).  For most aroids this has to do with pollinators, maybe I should wonder the opposite, why so few are light and brightly colored. From NARGS Seed Exchange, I did get A. flavum ssp. abbreviatum, one of the few yellows.

https://www.google.com/search?q=arisaema+candidissimum&hl=en&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=ay44T4CHFoTO2AWWjOD5AQ&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CCAQ_AUoAQ&biw=1340&bih=560

[McDonough]

With the extra warm temperatures this spring, Arisaema sikokianum is growing lustily this year.  This is a threesome grouping, which always faces away from the prime garden viewing direction.  Some visual impressions, the first two photos with different lighting, when backlit, the veining shows better.



Side profile, and a wider garden view:



A young self-sown plant blooming for the first time, close to Epimedium fargesii.  Notice another seedling to the right.  The darn thing has its back to the gardebn access path, as usual!

[McDonough]

Several views of one of my favorites, a garden hybrid that appeared about 10 years ago, between the slender A. tashiroi (with beautiful snake-skin like markings on the sheathed sprout) and the common A. amurense. A few years ago I eventually lost tashiroi, but the hybrids and several forms of amurense persist.




Inside, the flowers can be green (with whitsh striping) or tinged with brown.  This is one that's growing up through an Epimedium, the spathe brownish inside.

[WimB]

With the extra warm temperatures this spring, Arisaema sikokianum is growing lustily this year.  This is a threesome grouping, which always faces away from the prime garden viewing direction.  Some visual impressions, the first two photos with different lighting, when backlit, the veining shows better.

Still my all time favourite, Mark. How old is that group? Over here this species doesn't get very old, 5-6 years in the garden!
Last week I saw for the first time ever (in the garden of a friend) an A. sikokianum which propagates vegetatively, it grows small side-bulbs! That would mean getting group of this plant and never losing it again...I've asked him to put me on the waiting list for this clone  

Several views of one of my favorites, a garden hybrid that appeared about 10 years ago, between the slender A. tashiroi (with beautiful snake-skin like markings on the sheathed sprout) and the common A. amurense. A few years ago I eventually lost tashiroi, but the hybrids and several forms of amurense persist.

Inside, the flowers can be green (with whitsh striping) or tinged with brown.  This is one that's growing up through an Epimedium, the spathe brownish inside.

Wonderful hybrid, Mark. Is it fertile?
A. amurense is one of the easiest over here, and can form very big clumps, very quickly! Never tried A. tashiroi!

The first one to flower over here this year is Arisaema griffithii

[Zonedenial]

Trond; your arisaema #3 looks like my A. costatum:

[McDonough]

Wim, oh no, my A. sikokianum clump-of-three is 6-7 years old, I hope that doesn't mean my clump will die soon!  I've had any number of Arisaema die, but I usually attribute the losses due to vole/mole tunneling which is a significant problem here.  Typically I scratch in the seed of A. sikokianum in various spots in the garden in late fall, and they come up here and there; can never have enough of this one.

Yes, the A. tashiroi x amurense (or is it the other way round), is indeed fertile.  For more on this hybrid, and the delightful A. tashiroi which I have fond memories of, see this past NARGS topic:
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=191.msg1471#msg1471

Always wanted A. griffithii is one of the most distinctive and remarkable species, definitely on my want list, haven't tried it yet.

Don:  ooh, I really like A. costatum, a rather bright red-toned base and dramatic striping.  Did you grow yours from seed?  How long have you had it in the garden?