I just got a rhizome from Japan, it's quite big... I am at work, but couldn't help opening the box till I got home.
So I checked it.
Quite big (a few times bigger than the A. griffithii I bought a couple years back and frozen in the cold 2011 winter)
It's got a nice start on top, and I could see some white/yellow roots developing at the base of the "stem".

I got a few questions:
1. Would it be fairly hardy in my zone 6-7 ??? Last winter was very cold, this one's been kinda mild, and rainy. The sites state zone 5, 6, and some "can't stand freezing temps"
2. Should I pot it up or try to plant it out in the garden?
3. How can I offer it the dryness it needs in winter? With all the rains and snows we usually get...

Can't wait to go home and take a pic

Hi Calin, I believe the zone 5 based on some of the sites that note it. No direct experience though. As I understand it your climate is similar to mine though a month off. Winters wet, dry, frigid, cool and everything in between. I've been struggling with planting out Arisaema for a few years and so far have had the best luck under a blue spruce which stays fairly dry over winter. I've been debating potting most of the survivors up and storing them in the detached unheated garage.

Well, the man I got it from also replied. He said over there in Japan it gets to - 5 C. Which is kinda too mild for our winters.
This winter was ok, very "warm" temps compared to previous ones.
But I don't wanna risk it.
Especially that he just told me the rhizome is at least 7 years old.
Here it is!

Beautiful tuber Calin. 7 years old? Doesn't bode well for what I'd likely receive in a 4" pot. That baby wants to be potted! What sort of mix will you use. PLEASE get those pics in the DB.

The mix will be some dirt I just got from a park nearby, with lots of trees and leaves... (mix of top soil and last fall's leaves), some bought mix, some sand and maybe some vermiculite or perlite? I am making a "mixed mix" :)
And a clay pot for sure

One of the pics is already there :)
Not my work!
I already potted it up!
Now... the waiting.

fixpix said:One of the pics is already there :)
Not my work!

My work. I was testing, hope you don't mind.

fixpix said:I already potted it up!
Now... the waiting.

Fast!

Yup... With all those roots spreading I had to be quick.
I am happy with the mix I made.
We'll see if it's happy too.
I'll keep you updated and share pics of the development

Your mix sounds like a good one. Fast draining, moisture retaining. Last year I made the mistake of being over-exuberant in my watering regime. A. serratum, while not lost, has probably been set back a year or 2.

Here is a pic of today. I can see some green :)

Wow, three weeks. Must be happy. Love these emerging leaf pics with Arisaema. It looks like it's struggling to break free. Good job! eFloras says you'll have 2 leaves.

Yup, I kinda sneaked inside and I could see there's 2 of them.
:)

Thanks

A month after planting (potting)

That is one happy plant Calin. Worth every penny? The inflorescence looks perfect but it's difficult to understand. How big is the pot you're using?

OK. Maybe now you can figure it?
It's on the stove (cooker?) and next to it an old Fanta bottle (2 L) and behind a 5 L water container.
I'd say it's pretty big

Thanks Calin. What I was referring to is the way the dark red part of the spathe meets the green and white striped part. Your photos are/were great but I think the only way to fully understand this amazing inflorescence is to grow it myself.

I hope, with time, we can collect database information on how readily the different Arisaema offset. Weather they are self fertile, need two plants to produce seed, or whatever. I'd love to try propagating some of these from seed, maybe even doing some crosses. I'm finding it difficult, however, to gather fertility, bloom time, etc. information. I also grow Iris, mostly Japanese and siberian, and bloom times are listed as Early, Mid and Late. Actually with many gradations in between (Very Early, Very Late, etc.) and reblooming. If we could eventually collect data like that, as well as the fertility information, it would make doing crosses a lot easier.

Calin, how's that Arisaema coming along? These are bog plants here in North America, I believe. Thus they like lots of water in the growing season.

Further to Evan's comments about propagating, I'm pretty sure that they make offsets (little bulbs) around the mother bulb if you grow lots of healthy leaves through the summer. You can propagate them from those baby bulbs if you carefully separate them from the mother bulb after top growth finishes in the fall. Of course it will take maybe 2 or 3 years to grow a blooming size one from an offset.

As far as hardiness, and keeping it dry, I would think if you can find a spot under the roof on the south-facing side of the house, that might be your best bet for over-wintering it if you can't bring it indoors. A cool, but not freezing garage or basement would be ideal. If you leave it outside, be sure to mulch it and keep it shaded once the top growth dies back, so it won't jump into growth too early.

I tried these for years when I lived in Utah (zone 5 or 6 - who grows bog plants in the desert??) and one year we had a warm, sunny February that put everything into springtime mode. Only to go back to winter come March which killed back a lot of things.

Oh hello,
Well Elaine, South. under roof, etc. Kinda hard. And don't these prefer shade? With us, South means sun. :)
So far no offsets are to be seen :(
The flower is still there, the top half dry and crunchy (I mean the thin part) but the lower part is still hard to the touch and I kinda split the top layer and I could see a lot of green "bubbles"-like stuff... future seeds?
I thought two plants are needed.
Maybe they are indeed seeds but not viable ones.
Would be nice to have a few dozens of seeds...

It's ok to keep it in a pot. It's one of the easy plants, the ones I LIKE - dormant in winter.

South side, right! We had trees near part of the south side of our house in Utah, so in summer it was warm but shady, and in winter, warm and sunny when the trees lost their leaves.

Yeah, I would think you might need two plants to pollenate so the seeds would be viable.

Oh well. Here it is. Took some pics over the weekend both garden and stuff, but I transferred them to my laptop at home and quickly uploaded them to photobucket.
I forgot this site only accepts direct upload.
But here's the link...
http://s87.photobucket.com/use...