[Aroid-l] Hardiness for Helicodiceros and Dracunculus

From: James Waddick <jwaddick at kc.rr.com> on 2010.01.31 at 19:38:41(20536) Freinds, I've grown Dracunculus in my Zone 6 semi-rural Kansas City area for over 10 years. This includes commercial tubers, a gift from pal Steve Marak and seed grown to bloom. Only the hardest late freeze, after they have really started to grow well, hurts them. We routinely get below 0F and usually spend days to weeks below freezing. I get multiple flowers each year and the plants increase in number. +More I have grown Helicodiceros for years in pots wintered over in a cool frost-free greenhouse where it is just now emerging for the year. I also have a single small plant on a sloped bank facing west that has grown for a few years (3 or 4) without any special protection. Each year this plant slowly gets larger and perhaps in some mild winter -not this one - it will grow enough to bloom. I have sent tubers to friends in cold climates encouraging them to try similar exposures and test for hardiness. I have found this to be something of pot weed with even small pieces of tuber sending up growth in many pots with reused soil kept frost free. While I have the 'stage' - Does anyone know where one can acquire the white/yellow/cream flowered forms of Dracunculus vulgaris. ? I'd call Dracunculus totally hardy here in my area, but Helicodiceros still unproven. Best Jim Waddick -- Dr. James W. Waddick 8871 NW Brostrom Rd. Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711 USA Ph. 816-746-1949 Zone 5 Record low -23F Summer 100F + _______________________________________________ Aroid-L mailing list Aroid-L@www.gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

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