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From: Ken Mosher <ken at SPATULACITY.COM>
Subject: Re: Dracunculus vulgaris - first bloom
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Hi Stacy,

Isn't "red clay with excellent drainage" an oxymoron? Clay pretty much
means no drainage, right?

I've wanted to grow Dracunculus in my zone 5a yard but I don't know
where to put it. I tried pots, didn't work at all. I do have a spot in a
bank with poor, very sandy soil that gets loads of sun in summer. It's
well away from the house so I don't care about bad smells. (I've been
planting that area with anything that flowers and spreads as I need to
stabilize the slope, daylily, tansy, monarda, evening primrose,
filipendula, may apples over in the shady corner.) I can't dig too deep
there, very rocky. Does that sound like a viable spot?

-Ken

Stacy Holtzman wrote:
> Adam,
>
> I think the location is really important, but temperature doesn=92t see=m
> to be the factor.  I bought five Dracunculus [bulbs? Tubers?] three
> years ago and of the five, one didn=92t survive at all (it was planted
> next to the house on the south side), three are doing okay but are stil=l
> small and kind of weak (they are in different spots in the garden), and
> this one that has done well is on the side of a very steep bank on the
> south side of the gardens outside of our driveway, gets a lot of sun bu=t
> a lot of wind/weather exposure, but excellent drainage.  It is in heavy
> red clay soil with geodes.  Maybe the red clay with excellent drainage
> is the key.
>
> Stacy Holtzman
> Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center
> Biology Dept., Jordan Hall A512
> 1001 E. Third St.
> Bloomington, IN  47405-3700
> Phone: 812-855-5782
> Fax: 812-855-2577