Recently, Garden Curator, Doug Ruhren, was moving one of our new Amorphophallus konjac selections from our field trials into the garden. When dug, this form, with solid black stems, had a tuber that was nearly the size of a basketball. The old growth has died back, and it will remain dormant until next June. Below
Basketball Jones…On the Move Read More »
For those who have followed us for a while, you know we have a fascination for tuberous aroids, particularly those in the genus, Amorphophallus. We’ve spent quite a bit of time making seed selections as well as hybrids, often using the super winter hardy Amorphophallus as a parent. So far, we have 14 species that
Cognac or Konjac – We’ll take the Latter Read More »
Our recent Titan Arum flowering caused quite a stir in the area, resulting in 8,400 visitors to Juniper Level Botanic Garden. On the two other occasions we’ve had one flower, our attendance hadn’t exceeded 1,000 people, so having this many folks was quite unexpected. At times, the line to see, smell, and touch, exceeded 300
The Titan has Fallen Read More »
We usually don’t think of seed as being one of the more showy part of the plants, but that’s not the case with the Southeast Asian (Japan, China, Taiwan) native, Amorphophallus kiusianus. After flowering, these form a stunning seed head, usually atop a 2-3′ tall stalk. The berries first turn pink, then over a course
There’s just something about a plant, whose inflorescence looks like a giant phallus, and smells like a pile of rotting meat, that people just can’t resist. Perhaps, it’s the horticultural equivalent of staring at a car wreck. If you’re one of those individuals who is so inclined, or you’re just entranced with nature’s sense of
The March of the Titan – T-minus 10 days, and estimating Read More »
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
