Rust-resistant species.

[Gene Bush]

Hello Neil,
I believe different regions or even local areas experience differing
experiences with arisaema rust.
My first encounter was with the species A. amurense some years back. I
immediately dug out all traces and discarded the plants. I have not put any
arisaema back into that immediate area. A few years later I found
wholesalers sending A. triphyllium tubers from points south were sending
infected material. I have now recently seen rust on A. dracontium. I do not
have the infection in my garden and have quite a few species. A.
hetrophyllum is at the entrance gate to the garden and had been for about 8
years now. Tallest of the three is about six feet. A. sikokianum is doing
well in my garden when given a position out of the early winter sun so that
it does not break dormancy too early.
If any one or more species of Arisaema has a built-in resistance to rust
I have not seen the evidence in a paper as yet. I believe the advice that
applies best here is the same one for all perennials that no one seems to
follow any more. Every plant I purchase goes into a holding area to be
watched for a while, *before* being transplanted to my garden. I would much
rather discard and destroy one plant than my entire collection....... of any
one of my collections.
Gene E. Bush
Munchkin Nursery & Gardens, llc
www.munchkinnursery.com
genebush at munchkinnursery.com
Zone 6/5  Southern Indiana

----- Original Message -----
From: "Neil Jorgensen" <njorgen at COMCAST.NET>

> Dear colleagues,
>
> For the past five years I have been working on a several-acre woodland
> garden in the town of Harvard in central Massachusetts where we are
> gradually developing a fairly extensive collection of eastern American
> and Asian plants.
>
>   Much of the site is a low woodland, the perfect habitat for A.
> triphyllum, of which there must be thousands growing.
>
> In my old garden, also in Harvard, also prime habitat for A.
> triphyllum, also with many, many volunteers popping up in the moister
> areas,  all of my first crop of A. sikokianum that I grew from seed
> succumbed to the rust within, I think, two years.
>
> Though I have not noticed any rust-infested triphyllums in the new
> garden, considering the vast number of individuals growing there and in
> the abutting woodlands,  I have been reluctant to introduce exotic
> Arisaemas  because of this potential for a fatal  infection.
>
> In my present garden here in coastal Maine, I have reluctantly removed
> the relatively few A. triphyllums that came in with plants that I
> brought with me when we moved here and have managed to grow (so far)
> fairly large crops of healthy (so far) A. sikokianum and A,.
> heterophyllum.
>
>   Does anyone know if A. heterophyllum or any other Arisaema species
> are resistant to the A. triphyllum rust?  What about A. draconitum,
> another native species?
>
> If they survived, Arisaemas would be a wonderful  addition to this new
> garden, but I don't want to waste even a single specimen there if there
> is a good chance they are not going to make it.
>
> I would appreciate any help from the group.  Thanks
> n