Dracunculus vulgaris - tell me how to grow

[Wheasie]

My daughter bought me a bag of 5 Dracunculus vulgaris from an online gardening site - I've looked and looked on the site but can't discern if these are winter-hardy bulbs or not. I don't want to go out and plant them only to loose them. Can anyone help me?

Wheasie

[Minnow]

Hi there Wheasie! This was the first Arum I ever tried to grow & boy oh boy did it grow! ( It has a tendancy to be seedy & also spreads by offset.) It is very hardy here in Western North Carolina. I have "THEM" growing at the edge of the woods, far from the front door. They are really cool to look at but, Stinky! Bloom time is in late spring. They love lots of compost & leafmold. I am sure that they will do well where you are as long as you aren't north of zone 5. Pot them up & keep them cool until late winter, then put them where you want them. Because of this arum I now have a collection of several Voodoo lilys 5 of which I have to dig up for the winter. I hope that this helps.

[Wheasie]

Minnow,

Thank you on the directions regarding what to do with them until spring. So these do or do NOT need to be dug up in the fall? I'm not clear.

Louise

[Chris_W]

They say these can be hardy to zone 5b, but... I used to grow some and would dig them up each fall and store them in paper bags along with our cannas and glads. Each year they got bigger and bigger and were getting quite attractive. Then one fall it froze really early and I forgot to dig them. That was the end of them.

So if it was me I would dig them and store the roots over the winter in a cool spot. They are really easy to store. And because they multiply so fast you could always try leaving some in the ground just to see if they are hardy in your area.

[FreakyCola]

I have some on the north side of my house but it's a sheltered spot, since callas, cannas & a dahlia all come back every year in that bed. There's a big air pipe in the basement right by that wall so I think it must warm the dirt on the outside of the house somehow.

I agree it can be stinky! But it is sooooo coool! I love the stems that look like leopard spots , well if you had a green leopard!

I wondered if it spread by seeds or underground somehow coz one year I had one come up about 3' away & I didn't think I'd planted one there.

Another year I spread the seeds all over & the next year these little funny looking sprouts came up. I left them cause they were so different looking, but I had no idea what they were. Finally the year before last, probably 3 or 4 years after they first came up I could tell they were the voodoo lilies!

Then last winter I put all my miniture hosta pots on that bed over the winter & killed all the canna & callas that usually come up. Guess they didn't get enough water with the pots blocking them. I didn't think the pots on top of the frozen ground would bother anything underground, but something sure happened. Ya live & learn!

[Gruntfuttock]

I love them, they have such a fantastic spathe. The stinkiness only lasts a day or two, they are hardy here, but they haven't done as well as I would have liked.

[Wheasie]

Thanks ALL for input - one more question... do they go dormant after blooming or is the foliage present all summer?

Wheasie

[Robyn]

Mine just opened yesterday and oh the smell. I moved mine last summer after it bloomed so it didn't have a normal season. Will let you know what it does this year.

[mcplant]

I agree they are really cool looking. Mine only lasted about3 days before the bloom fell over and went into steady a decline. My soil there is heavy clay. I put in lots of compost aand planted hostas and heucheras all around. They seem to be fine. I think the ammended soil is about 12-14 inches deep. Should my dracunculus last longer?