One of our favorite summer combinations is our planting of Amorphophallus konjac ‘Gordon’s Gold’ in the middle of this patch of the North American native Juniperus horizontalis ‘Wiltonii’ (aka blue rug juniper). This patch of groundcover juniper looks completely normal until mid-June, when the love lily emerges with it’s stunning gold foliage. What a contrast
Perhaps you will read this post and decide you have not learned anything, so forgive me in advance. But some occurrences in the garden are just so charming they require nothing more of us than to just enjoy. This photo of a happy family of five voodoo lily flowers caught my attention. They appear to
Eavesdropping on Amorphophallus Read More »
Looking great in the garden in late summer is the little known love lily, Amorphophallus kachinensis. This southeast Asian species has now reached 7′ tall in the garden. Our earlier collections from Thailand were not winter hardy here, but this Peter Zale collection from Myanmar has thrived.
Our 8 year-old clump of Amorphophallus bulbifer ‘Old Warty’ is looking lovely in the garden this week. We love the palm-like form in the summer garden, but selected this clone because it produces more leaf bulbils than any other clone we’ve ever seen. The bulbils, which resemble giant warts, form in late summer in the
Through the years, we’ve trialed 27 different clones of Amorphophallus krausei in the garden for winter hardiness, but only two have consistently survived. The largest is a 2005 Alan Galloway collection from from Son La, Vietnam. Here it is in the garden this week with the 5′ tall flower spikes. The spikes are followed by
JCRA’s Amorphophallus titanum ‘Wolfgang’ put on quite a show from June 20-23, and now it’s time for our ‘Homo Erectus’ to shine. We anticipate the blessed event at JLBG/Plant Delights beginning on Friday June 30, but please understand that trying to predict nature is anything but an exact science. Below is an image from June
Clash of the Titans – One down, and one to go Read More »
In July 2018, we flowered our first Titan Corpse Flower, Amorphophallus titanum. Our plant was # 594 to flower in its entire history of cultivation. Since that time, another 141 have flowered worldwide, bringing the total number to 735. If you’d like to see who else has flowered these amazing giants, here is our complete
Clash of the Titans Read More »
We’ve long been fascinated by Amorphophallus konjac ‘Shattered Glass’, an unstable variegated cultivar, developed by plantsman Michael Marcotrigiano. Some years, the foliage emerges solid green, other years with a small bit of sectoral variegation, and this year with a fully variegated leaf.
Picking up Shattered Glass Read More »
One of our favorite love lilies in our 2003 introduction, Amorphophallus konjac ‘Pinto’. This amazing dwarf never has foliage that exceeds 16″ in height. Unfortunately, the ridiculously slow growth rate has kept us from offering it again since, but perhaps one day. Here is our parent plant in the garden this week. Even if you
Pinto – A Subcompact Love Lily Read More »
We always love seed set on the love lily, Amorphophallus kiusianus. This species is one of the few amorphophallus which sets seed without a mate. The seed start out a raspberry pink and gradually mature to blue. Seed can be planted once they turn blue, but will not germinate until the following June.
