Arum 2008

[Alberto]

Hi All.
Today with my surprise I have found my A. creticum blooming. It is the first time. As the total plant is really little, just 20 cm high, I thought have to wait more time before getting ready to flower. It is fragrant, lemon-scented! Does  anyone have experience with hardiness? Thank you

Alberto

[Maggi Young]

Alberto, your little Arum creticum is early, I think, even for Italy!

Unless you have a particularly small form, I think it will be taller and larger as it gets older in years. Here in Aberdeen we do have some outside in as warm a spot as we can give, but our main plants are in the glass house. In very cold frosty weather the leaves can collapse completely but soon pick up again when the temperature rises. One small flower has quite a pleasant scent but a large plant in a warm glass house - or in a car going to a show - can be overpowering.
 A search of the Bulb Log Index should give some more details of the plant's habits with us:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/bulblog/index.pdf

[Paul T]

This is the only Arum species I grow that I haven't managed to flower.  I guess I'll have to take the plunge and plant some in teh garden.  I find some of them a little enthusiastic, so they all stay in pots, but whereas the others manage to flower fine (purpureospathum, orientale, palestinum, dioscoridis, hygrophyllum, cyrenaicum, etc) the creticum just point blank refuses.  Could those who flower this successfully please let me know what conditions they grow it in, and whether you've found it needs anything different to the other species?

Thanks in anticipation.

[Maggi Young]

Some references to Arum creticum in the Bulb Log:
 2/03......3/03.........13/03.........22/03...............48/05............12/07
Hope this helps!

[Tony Willis]

I just have creticum planted in a bed in the garden with other shrubs and perrenials.It is reasonably drained but heavy soil. We do not have a lot of frost which penetrates deeply into the soil and mine have been happy for 10 years or so and flower each year.I have another clump in a border which is often flooded in winter with no problems. I grow numerous arums (100 plus wild collections)and over the years have planted spares in the garden. This is a big mistake they are a terrible weed once they get going. A poor picture of Arum euxinum which has escaped.

[Paul T]

Thanks Maggi, will check on them when I get the chance.

Tony,

That ability to be a thug once planted out is why I have resisted planting my creticum out.  The only one I have in the garden is palestinum, and that only in a very specific place or two.

[Susan]

What sort of conditions do you have palestinum growing in, Paul?  I bought it last year and it does not seem to have made any growth.  I have  repotted it and all seems well with the corm.  Also do you know what sort of winter temperature it can take?

Susan

[Paul T]

Susan,

I grow it in pots and the ground, and it flowers in both.  Likes lots of sun I find, because too much shade stops it flowering.  I grow it in an 8 inch black plastic pot unprotected from winters of -8'C or thereabouts and it flowers if I feed it sufficiently.  If you're in NZ it should be just about to start shooting now, as they're dormant through summer.  So.... depending when you bought it last year it may just have been dormant and yet to shoot.  I've noticed a number of the Arums are just shooting this last week.

[Tony Willis]

Susan

all the arums start to shoot in late summer and make growth through the autumn and winter.Cold makes the leaves flop but they recover as it warms up each day.It is perhaps best with palestinum not to let the tuber freeze .

[Susan]

Thanks to both of you.  Yes when I repotted it was starting to sprout.  I received it in July last year (the middle of our winter) and it looked pretty awful. 

Paul I have it potted in exactly the same size pot you mentioned so will await with interest to see if it grows.  Will put it into a sunnier place too.

Thank you,

Susan

[Andrew]

Could those who flower Arum creticum please let me know what conditions they grow it in, and whether you've found it needs anything different to the other species?

Thanks in anticipation.

How long have you had it Paul ?

I bought mine 3/4 years ago and it finally flowered this year. No special treatment, its just stuck in a pot, just like A. pictum (which flowered after 1 or 2 years) stored in a cold greenhouse over winter.

[Paul T]

Andrew,

Hmm.... about 10 years or so I think.  Something in that region anyway.  A. pictum does nicely for me, flowering in autumn most years, and the other species flower fine as I mentioned.  Just creticum at this stage which is being recalcitrant.  Might just try taking the largest and putting them into a larger pot and see if that helps.  Maybe they need more food than the other species do, so I'll give that a go as well.  Not like you can really over feed any Arum..... most of the Araceae just lap up fertiliser.

[Andrew]

Andrew,

Hmm.... about 10 years or so I think.

That's long enough for it to flower I would say !!

Maybe they need more food than the other species do, most of the Araceae just lap up fertiliser.

Mine's lucky if it gets watered, let alone, extra fertiliser !

[Paul T]

Andrew,

Yes, but your "not watered" is probably a sight more natural watering than my "not watered" would be given I'd imagine you have a somewhat damper and cooler climate than me?  Our dry time is summer, so the Arums are dormant then anyway, but we often get very little autumn rain in the last few years, which could affect things.  Rain itself has nitrates within it and acts as a mild fertiliser...... it's why rainfall always gets a better response from plants than hand watering (but again I would imagine you guys don't get as much obvious difference as we do, given that for weeks at a time our hand watering is often all the watering our gardens get ), so your plants would get more fertiliser than you may realise.

I'm gneralising here on the differences between our climates.  I realise that there are parts of the UK that get a lot less rainfall than others.

[Anthony Darby]

How long does it take Arum creticum to flower from seed? I have several pots sown in 2003 and 2004 and so far not a flower.