I woke up this morning to find that a flower had opened on my Dragon Arum. This is the first year that I've had this display as the plant tried to flower for the first time last year but the buds were totally mullered by slugs or snails. The smell is godawful but the flies have had an all day party around the plant!

Here's a couple of pics:






Definitely one for any old goths out there!

Well done, John! Dracunculus flowering day has become my favourite time of year! Now, keep it well fed and watered to fatten up the corm, and it'll be bigger next year...and the next...

This was mine when it opened yesterday (Monday):


I had another smelly arum a week or so ago: Sauromatum venosum. It didn't flower last year, so when the flower opened this year I'd forgotten anything I might once have read about the scent. I sniffed, wondering if it smelled at all. It smells of shit! It was like the smell of a hillside full of sheep droppings on a summer afternoon, rather than the stink of fresh cow dung. Almost pleasant, in fact, in a very strange way.

Hmmm...thankfully the smell only lasts a day...
I made the mistake of planting mine too near the kitchen window so the smell (and the bluebottles) pervaded/invaded the kitchen.
I put up with it for a couple of years then had to move it - it hasn't flowered since
Pete

Thanks Dave. I think this is my favourite plant this week! Yours is brilliant, a huge plant. I didn't know they could get to that size. How tall is it?

Now the Venosum has to go on the list! How hardy is it and do you protect it at all over winter?

Thanks Pete. I hadn't realised that ................. checked today, no stench but the flower remains marvellous! It's a shame that yours hasn't flowered since the move.

From soil to the tip of the spadix 1.8m (nearly six feet). It's in a raised bed, so it appears even taller.

You've done well there Dave. Mines half the size at the moment and was grown from seed four years ago (not germinated by me!). I have something to aim for now!

Keep it well fed and watered until it goes dormant. The fertilizer won't make it grow bigger this year, of course, but it'll bulk up the corm ready for next year. Mine's almost half a metre taller this year than last.

Hmmmm....I've just been Googling. Several sites say that 2-3 feet (60-90cm) is its ultimate height. A few say 5 feet (1.5m). Not many say 6 feet (1.8m) which is what mine is this year. I haven't found a site yet which quotes a bigger size (although one site says that the spadex alone can, rarely, be 50 inches (1.3m)...that must be a whopper of a plant!! - my spadex is 23 inches).

I think my Dracunculus is going to get fed to the point of morbid obesity this year, in an attempt to get a truly monstrous plant next year

Dave, I have never seen a Dranunculus more than half the size of your specimen. I dread to think what you must be feeding it!

Thanks Dave .................... that plant must be a record breaker

What exactly are you feeding it. I have to confess that I've rarely fed my plant although it may get some overspill from the annual spring chicken poo pellet flinging festival!

Looking in the garden this afternoon and discovered mine has opened up .Thought I would post photo as my first message on this forum. Dicky

Great photos, Dickie
What's the Hosta in the foreground?
Pete

Sauromatum is very hardy. No protection needed. It also multiplies like mad. I started 6 years ago with one plant, and I got another bulb from a friend about 3 years ago, and now I have about 20 plants.

Zac

Sorry I have not got a clue the name of the hosta. As you caN SEE FROM PHOTO i THINK i PLANTED IT IN THE WRONG SPOT AS IT IS HIDDEN can anyone tell me when I can move it and it is alright to move ?

Best time to move Hosta is when it starts to shoot in Spring, but it's unlikely to be killed by a move anytime.