dracunculus hardiness

[Adam Fikso]

Thanks, Petra--Chicago is tougher than St. Louis by more than  a little.
However, willing to consider it again. What kind of soil is yours in? How
deep?  Mine were down about 5" and it didn't get colder than 0 F for more
than about 4 days, a really mild winter.
I've got a fairly dense clayey loam (old prehistoric lake bottom that gets
hard as a rock and cracks 1" wide develop in the summer)  I have amended it
somewhat with lots of gypsum, and sand.  Didn't do anything special for the
Dracunculus, but could. Figured that central Turkey might  do OK here, but
no...Dracunculus from Eastern Turkey would be better, b ut then they might
not handle the too wet or dry hot summers.

Am waiting to see which arisaemas come through this coming  winter.   A
sikokianum (patterned leaf from Asiatica) and a candidissum did,  and
bloomed,with not much special treatment.  All the other   arisaemas were
planted in February:  consanguineum; nepenthoides; four of A-114  none
bloomed; , A-08 (lobatum); unbloomed griffithii , aff. ; A-55 flavum aff.
(green with blotch, small and nice--broader across the spathe curl than I'd
expect); tortuosum; A-70 looks like asperatum.; A-65 matches 'Gaoligong' in
Gusmans' book ; It set a seed head, but seed may not be viable--seems small
and insufficiently plump; A-63 consanguineum with pale stripe in leaf
center, no bloom; A-70  under name of meleagris-- very puzzling, grew to
about 3.5 inches, leaf schema matched omeiense; lost it to a chipmunk.
A-71 seemed to be the same as A-97--long drip tips, black spathe,
green-veined.  Will have to wait for firmer ID and viability because not all
of them bloomed.

Would like them to be like the local triphyllum which blooms regularly,
often sets seed and grows into July in the really tough soil.  Has a sandier
area than many places, though.   Thanks for the idea of trying it again.
What was the source?  Mine were large, nursery-grown and probably  grown
"soft" rather than lean and mean.  Cheers, Adam 5a, Glenview, IL.




----- Original Message -----
From: "Petra Schmidt" <petra at PLANTDELIGHTS.COM>
To: <ARISAEMA-L at NIC.SURFNET.NL>
Sent: Friday, October 03, 2003 1:12 PM
Subject: Re: dracunculus hardiness


> Hey Adam...Dracunculus vulgaris was alive and well in St. Louis, Missouri
in
> my back yard for years...blooming, setting seed...try it again in your
> Chicago area...Petra
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Adam Fikso" <irisman at AMERITECH.NET>
> To: <ARISAEMA-L at NIC.SURFNET.NL>
> Sent: Friday, October 03, 2003 1:15 PM
> Subject: Re: THANKS
>
>
> > Hello Brian.  you are a good deal warmer than we here in the Chicago
area
> so
> > much of what you regard as hardy would be wiped out here.  Will consider
> > asking for something later.  Dracunculus can't handle our weather here.
> Adam
> > Fikso, Z 5a
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Brian Williams" <pugturd at ALLTEL.NET>
> > To: <ARISAEMA-L at NIC.SURFNET.NL>
> > Sent: Friday, October 03, 2003 5:53 AM
> > Subject: THANKS
> >
> >
> > > Thanks for the warm welcome to the list. The few species I have all
set
> > > seed. And I currently have extras seeds of both the common one here
and
> > >
>