dragon lily
4 comments
some time ago a friend gave me a tiger lily bulb. The accompanying blurb promised a stunning flower. All I had to do was put it on a plate on the window ledge, no watering,no planting, just let it do its stuff.Eventually a flower resembling a cuckoo pint formed. What the blurb had neglected to mention was that it is also known as a stink lily. I awoke one morning to the worst smell i’ve ever come across in my life, and as the owner of a flatulent rottweiler and aged incontinent cat, that takes some doing.having traced the aroma to the above plant, I banished it to the end of the garden. A week later however I took pity on it and planted it in a pot.It is now a stunning plant with speckled stems and semicircular palm like leaves.As i’ve no intention of letting it back into the house, i would like to know it will survive outside.
26 Jul, 2011
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Comments
What you have, Bernadette, is Sauromatum venosum - the Voodoo Lily, and it is indeed arum like being an aroid. We have a couple of these ourselves. It is not at all hardy in the UK and also requires a completely dry winter dormancy, so not suitable for the garden
Ours are currently in pots outdoors enjoying the soft Scottish rain on their amazing foliage. They will stay there until they die back when the tubers will be unpotted, dried off and stored in a cool part of the house until January/February. They will the be potted up into a pot of dry, gritty, loam based compost and kept in the light until the inflorescence emerges when they will get a little water to keep the compost just moist. This continues until the leaf stem starts to emerge in June and they then get well watered.
Peoples conception of smells is very personal. I don't find the smell objectional at all. It is strong but to me it is very reminiscent of the cattle slurry that farmers spray on the fields. No problem to me at all, and it only lasts for a day. We mainly grow it for its leaves, which as you say are stunning. I hope that you can keep on enjoying yours.
Steragram. there is a picture of the inflorescence on page 2 of my photos. I will try and remember to add a picture of the leaves when I get home.
26 Jul, 2011
Crumbs, that is one weird flower! Doesn't nature just astonish you sometimes? I can't say slurry is my favourite perfume though.
28 Jul, 2011
I have just been and added a picture of the foliage to my album. The picture was taken today. Note the speckled stem and the sickle shaped leaf at the top of it.
3 Aug, 2011
Oh oh - I was hoping for a photo!
If the smell was worse than incontinent cat I reckon the bottom of the garden is the best place for it!
26 Jul, 2011