January in the northern hemisphere

[Véronique Macrelle]

Arum creticum has never developed as well as it did this winter...
could it finally bloom? 3 or 4 years it's been there, but it doesn't bloom. Last year I put a bit of composted manure on it.

[Véronique Macrelle]

lots of new growth on Arum maculatum ‘Bakovci’. it will look wonderful if the slugs don't eat it.
fed on manure compost last year too.

[Véronique Macrelle]

a whiter-than-average Arum italicum.
Mariette: is this the one that comes from you?
 in the 3 years it's been growing here, this is the first year it's been different from my local A. italicum.

[Véronique Macrelle]

winter is a bit of a dull season for gardeners: it makes me want too many plants on the internet! (you can't order everything, there are limits!)

fortunately, my volunteer seedlings of Ficaria verna provide an interesting diversity of foliage to observe, even if I often take photos with my phone in the rain to look at the photos in my armchair afterwards!
 some of the leaves are so black that they look bluish... and as they get older, a spotted form becomes pinker and pinker.

[Mariette]

Véronoique, Arum creticum grows like mad in pots filled with compost from my own compost heap. Yet in my pots they never flowered, maybe because I didn´t know that the corms should be planted in a vertical position, according to Peter Boyce in The Genus Arum. When I planted some overflow that way in the garden, I enjoyed inflorescences quite regularly. Recently I planted a surplus potful next to Arum dioscoridis, wondering whether they may produce hybrids. I kept Arum creticum in pots at first, fearing a lack of hardiness, but the FCC form I sent You did perfectly well these last winters.

As the soil in my garden is very heavy and often wet, I never feed arums. Your A. maculatum ´Bakovci´ is sprouting very early! I grow this variety in several places in the garden, but it bulks best in a sheltered spot, where growth starts earlier than in the more open positions.

I do not remember which else arums I sent You, maybe Arum italicum ´White Winter´, of which I´ve got a lot?



Arum italicum and maculatum are growing since more than 30 years in my garden, and new hybrids are popping up every now and then.

[Véronique Macrelle]

your Arum italicum ‘White Winter’ looks like what I have.
I have a few A. italicum plants from an aunt's garden, where they grew spontaneously (a long time ago).
they're reseeding a bit, but they're really slow to expand, and this White Winter, which has looked so ordinary for 3 years, shows how long you have to wait to see the leaves as they finally are.
I quite like seeing this variability on these Arum italicum.
 There's one without white drawings that came from a wild area in my sister's garden in Brittany: I took it because its flower was beautifully spotted.  here it always gets completely eaten by slugs! but not the others.

I think the Arum next to the Cyclamen is really beautiful.
Is A dioscoroidis doing well in your garden? Is it flowering?


I am really very pleased with Arum ‘Bakovci’.

[Véronique Macrelle]

- the first is taller than average, a sort of giant.
- the second is a dwarf, with round leaves

[Mariette]

This is my Arum dioscoridis growing since several years next to a walnut tree. It flowers regularly.



It was grown from seed harvested by a young Swede in Turkey. This is how it fruited in 2023, seeds went to the exchange.

[Véronique Macrelle]

magnificent!

[Catwheazle]

Despite ice and snow in the last few weeks.....as soon as it has thawed a little,
the first Paeonia mascula, ssp. hellenica from the last SRGC (23/24) seed exchange appears 🙂

Bernd

[MarcR]

This is my Arum dioscoridis growing since several years next to a walnut tree. It flowers regularly.



It was grown from seed harvested by a young Swede in Turkey. This is how it fruited in 2023, seeds went to the exchange.

Mariette,

I'm surprised that your Arum dioscoridis is already in bloom.  Mine are just starting to spike.

[Mariette]

Sorry, Marc, that I didn´t point out that these are older pics. They were just meant to answer Véronique´s question whether this species is doing well in my garden. Arum dioscoridis isn´t regarded to be hardy here, and Véronique is gardening in similar conditions. My plant is showing only leaves right now, of course.

[Catwheazle]

Crocus alatavicus today....

The ground is still frozen and there is still snow in some places....
More snow is expected at the weekend....

[Véronique Macrelle]

Bernd, what a beautiful photo!



here's the start of the flowering of my Cyclamen coum. the ones I bought flowered and produced seeds, then disappeared.
 it took me a few years to realise that their offspring would rather grow in the middle of the lawn!
They've been naturalised for 15 years now. they look like they're lined up along the path of the forumis.

I love them so much!

the only problem is that the temperatures are too warm now in winter for the lawn to grow and I can't mow any more without making a mess of it.

before, we never had to mow in winter!