winter care in Pacific Northwest

[Gene Bush]

Hello Mary,
I just purchased and received that book as well. Had not gotten around
to reading the Arisaema section as yet. Did glance at the nice photos. That
information, I believe, was the prevailing guide until all of us got
together on Arisaema-L and the Enthusiast group some years back. There may
be a few tender species that need protection in winter, but there are
certainly plenty that will grow in the shade garden up into zone 5. That
means going through winters... here in my area of the US that means
moisture. Winter and early spring is when we accumulate the moisture to get
us through the summers.
All my collection is in raised beds of some sort in my hillside garden.
Many are in nothing more than average soil with a leaf mulch each fall. I
will loose more to an early awakening than to winter wet. I have learned to
watch the emerging times in literature. We get a warm spell in late February
that will awaken the early emergers. Death then comes for we drop back into
the coldest part of our winter after that shirt sleeve weather. So far as I
know, all Arisaema are frost sensitive... cold hardy yes, but sensitive to
late frosts. Even the local species suffer from a late frost.
I do have problems keeping my tubers in pots over winter and move those
inside the unheated garage now to keep them form rotting over winter.
Gene E. Bush
Munchkin Nursery & Gardens, llc
www.munchkinnursery.com
genebush at munchkinnursery.com
Zone 6/5  Southern Indiana

----- Original Message -----
> I purchased An Encyclopedia of Shade Perennials by W. George Schmid and
I've
> been reading the section on Arisaema. The author, who lives in Georgia,
> discusses the difficulty of raising arisaemas where the soil is cold and
wet
> in the winter. For many species, he recommends overwintering in barely
moist
> peat in a cool garage or basement.
>
> How about this? In The Explorer's Garden, Dan Hinkley mentions growing
> arisaemas in his woodland garden, and it doesn't sound as though he lifts
> the plants and brings them in for the winter. It doesn't often get very
cold
> here, but it is usually wet during the winter. What do people do? (I
thought
> I would ask the Enthusiasts first, before I begin pestering those people
in
> whose gardens I have observed arisaemas.)
>
> Mary Lamb
> Seattle Washington