What’s for sowing today?

,

The lights were ‘fired up’ for a few impatient germinators and I started to sow more of the warm germinators. When it’s cold and drab outside there is really no other better thing than sowing and placing the little pots under the lights! I wasn’t thinking of sowing more Arisaema this year (I swear!), but as it happens I got a fairly large seed stock from someone :), and since I have plans for a little colony of this lovely Arisaema flavum, why wait?

A. flavum is not as impressive as other Arisaema spp. but it has a certain charm when the little yellow flowers are peeking from between the nice shoe-shaped leaves. Variable as height and spathe colour, it has female and male flowers on the same plant, and thus the red fruit will extend the garden décor into the fall. A. flavum ssp. abbreviatum is not recognized anymore as a subspecies, but there is a new one – ssp. tibeticum J. Murata. Most often the spathe colour is pure yellow or yellow with brown streakings.

Arisaema flavum

Arisaema flavum

No less important is the fact that it is one of the few ‘foreign’ Arisaema reliable for our climate. Its large native distribution, from W. Himalaya, S. Tibet and W. China to Afghanistan and Yemen, shows how adaptable is. It is certainly an alpine Arisaema, found growing wild in sunny, open places from 1700m to 3000 m altitude.

It germinates fairly quickly, and like most Arisaema sp. I tried, if started early, it puts up a nice growth under the lights, and you will obtain bigger/flowering tubers in a shorter period of time. Mature tubers also offset well, so it is easy to keep it going and even share it with friends.

Arisaema flavum seeds

Arisaema flavum seeds

The more we grow from seeds, the more interesting forms for the garden!

Note: I also sowed some of our native A. triphyllum to keep it company :)

6 replies
  1. Sharon
    Sharon says:

    Firing up the lights. Had to happen here too when I realized my seed sowing space, kitchen table, had too many sown pots crowding my work area. Arisaema flavum, also again this year, is included along with those seeds needing a warm moist environment. Last years tiny tubers have leafed out again in obviously a not cold enough basement.
    Fun filled anticipation during the blahs of winter.

  2. diversifolius
    diversifolius says:

    Maybe we should call them with capital letters, BLAHS? :) The lights are definitely helping!
    I had few under a small lamp too, for a little while. In our climate with such a short warm season it makes such a big difference if possible to start some species early.

Comments are closed.