Home of the Practically Perfect Pink Phlox and other native plants for pollinators

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Wildflower Wednesday: The Dragons At The Bottom Of My Garden

Are the best kind to have.
Arisaema dracontium
Green Dragon emerges as one stalk and slowly unfurls its mighty wings.  Or if you prefer leaf!  What looks like two leaves is one leaf that forks into leaflets of unequal size and uneven numbers.
go ahead and count the leaflets~they are always an uneven number
The parted leaflets curve around to give Green Dragon a rather large horseshoe shape.

As it unfurls, the rather fantastic looking dragon's tail is revealed. 

The tiny yellow male and female flowers are hidden in the hooded spathe at the base of the long and twisting spadix. 
An unusual flower for sure and  reminiscent of it's relative Arisaema triphyllum/Jack-in-the-Pulpit. 


 It blooms for a month and releases a scent that is undetectable to us but, is attractive to fungus gnats!

It is dramatic and elegant looking in the garden, growing over three foot tall with a two foot 'wingspan' by late Spring. 

Green Dragon (Arisaema dracontium) is a  marvelous woodland wildflower that is happiest in dappled sunlight and a moist, rich woodland soil.  It grows happily in my garden and is tolerant of our wet winters and dry summers. Try pairing it with ferns, phlox, heucheras and hostas! 


If it's happy you'll have a nice colony that disappears mid-summer leaving behind the red/orange ripened seed head that topples to the ground and spills seeds everywhere.  


xxoogail


Propagation: Tuber division:  This is the easiest method. Divide tubers when the plant dies down in late summer. Sowing seed: Collect fruits in fall (mid-August to early September) when the berries are red and remove the small brown seed from the pulp. Wear gloves as berry juice may irritate skin.  To keep the seeds from drying out and to aid germination stratify stored seeds by placing them in moist sphagmun moss and refrigerating 60 days before planting. Sow seeds outside in late fall, 3/4 inch deep, or the following spring with or without cold treatment.  Don't expect flower until the  second or third year.  Arisaema dracontium is native to the eastern half of North America






Welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. WW is about sharing and celebrating wildflowers from all over this great big, beautiful world. Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Remember, it doesn't matter if they are in bloom or not; and, it doesn't matter if we all share the same plants. It's all about celebrating wildflowers. Please leave a comment when you add your url to Mr Linky. 




Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone." She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

40 comments:

  1. Green Dragon is an apt name for this plant. I like curved stems, leaves and unique flowers. I'd like to plant this in my garden, if only I could!

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  2. Very interesting!
    Happy Wildflower Wednesday!
    Lea
    Lea's Menagerie

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  3. These are one of my favorite plants. I will attempt to seed them...great to know how now!!

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  4. I love those leaves. It is like a dragon!
    (I will work on a Wildflower Wednesday post for later today!)

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  5. Wow! That is a fabulous plant, Gail! I love the way the foliage spirals around.
    xoxoxo
    Frances

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  6. Hi Gail,
    I have not heard of this plant. It is awesome! I was sad that it was not in my plants native to Nebraska book, but Jack in the Pulpit is. I have an area in my curb bed that gets more shade than I realized it did, and am planning on moving out a few things, like the showy sedums that get sprawly, and plant some natives that like shade. I did find a Mayapple plant at a plant sale from a home garden that is struggling a bit, since the roots did not fill out the pot it was in.

    I posted lots of photos, as usual.

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  7. How dramatic. You have a beautiful theater for its debut.

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  8. What a cool plant! I have been looking for something to fill in some of the gaps in my woodland garden and this sounds like a perfect fit. I am trying to add more and more natives to my garden...they hardest part is finding a local nursery or supplier of native plants. Where do you find most of yours?

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    1. I order them from native nurseries or go to GroWild~It's a local native nursery. The Georgia Native Society may have recommendations. gail

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  9. This is my first time posting to Wildflower Wednesday. I wish I had found it (and your blog) before. You have so many awesome plants!

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  11. Wonderful pictures. Wonderful plants. That bloom, so much like the Jack-in-the-Pulpit, is especially interesting, but the leaves are just so striking. Lovely.

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  12. Cool plant! I have some of the little jacks, but not this larger one. It has interesting leaves.

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  13. Loved seeing the progress of this arisaema - really well named. I'm thinking it's time for me to see if I can start some of these treasures from seed again. You've inspired me once again.
    B.

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  14. My first Wildflower Wednesday!! I'm excited to join in :)

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  15. I love the Green Dragon! Very Cool! Green Dragon is truly an unusual plant. Thank you for hosting today Gail! It is always fun to see what everyone has blooming at the moment.

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  16. Between the wings and the tale, a more fabulous version of our arum lily, which now looks subdued and dull.

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  17. Your dragon is dramatic! I don't have the conditions for it, but it is enchanting!

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  18. I've never seen anything like that...it is amazing!

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  19. I've stayed away from green dragon, deterred by that whole "moist, rich soil" thing. I'm willing to give it a try if it thrives in your challenging conditions. It is one cool plant.

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  20. I had heard of the green dragon but had never seen such a good photo of it before. I now see how it is different from Jack-in-the-pulpit, which I featured in my Wildflower Wednesday post.

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  21. Hi Gail! Your Green Dragon is a star! I am glad I'm able to join Wildflower Wednesday with my post, after a long break. I just visited Heronswood Gardens and try to show as many pictures as possible. The Gardens are going to have a new owner. They need a lot of TLC.

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  22. This is such a cool plant. I would have thought it was some sort of exotic import from Asia.

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  23. I love Arisemas even though they are not the most fragrant bunch! Sorry no Wildflower Wednesday post this month - I thought it was next week!

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    1. you can link next week if you want to....

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  24. What an interesting plant--it certainly makes a dramatic entrance! Once again, I've learned something new on Wildflower Wednesday. So nice to meet up with you again in Asheville, Gail, and thanks for the generous invitation. Your garden is truly a delight.

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  25. ... i think the most are dandelions :)

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  26. This is a new plant to me Gail. I wish you had been home when we whizzed by. You could have pointed out so many things I am sure we missed. It was great to see you and your garden. A little chipmunk greeted us as we drove in.

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  27. Hi Gail: A fascinating plant, indeed. And it definitely is reminiscent of Jack-in-the-Pulpit. For some reason, Blotanical bumped you out of my favorites. I kept wondering why you didn't show up in my Blogroll list. Happy Wildflower Wednesday!

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  28. I'm just getting interested in the Aroids, I got Arisarum proboscideum this spring. Your plant would tower over the tiny Mouse Plant. Very interesting.

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  29. Now THAT'S a cool plant, Gail! Love the seed heads.

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  30. I'll bring two flowers
    last week's pink Pelargonium
    http://elephantseyegarden.blogspot.com/2012/05/fifth-in-dozen-for-diana.html
    and today's Ruby Grass
    http://elephantseyegarden.blogspot.com/2012/05/of-imperial-tea-and-ruby-grass.html

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  31. Those are fantastic photos of it Gail. Until you gave the botanical name for it, I was thinking I'd never seen anything like it. Then I realized I just hadn't seen such good photos of it!

    Loved seeing and talking with you at Fling. Wish it happened more often. :-)

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  32. Somehow the leaves and the fruits of this Arisaema, which i still haven't seen, is similar to our Amorphophalus campanulatus. Maybe they are of the same family, i will search later. I love the variation and arrangement of its fruits in the panicle.

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  33. A handsome fella, Gail! I have huge colonies of thriving Jacks but never have seen this before.

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