Late last winter, I took a deep breath and sawed in half the roots of an especially crowded pot of P. delavayi. Here it was a couple of summers ago.
It could have been sawed in quarters and still been fine but I was being cautious. To my surprise, both halves fairly quickly filled out their pots, bloomed and set fruit as usual. I smeared the ripe fruit around on the soil in the fall and today there are seedlings in both pots. They'll be left to do what they will but this fall, the fruits will be spread on flats of soil and late next winter, I'll be dividing these pots again. Maybe I'll be brave and throw one in the ground.
Here's the other pot also with seedlings.
Years ago, I had a large beautiful pot of P. 'Kaleidoscope' which I thought should be set free in the ground. After it was planted, it slowly died and never returned so I'm wary about planting these in the open garden.
This P. delavayi was planted in the ground at the same time as the previous ones in pots. It was lovely for a year but the next year was nowhere to be seen. The third year, it came back and here it is emerging from the ground again this year. How can a plant simply not grow for a whole year and then come back like this?
For several years there was a large pot of P. 'Spotty Dotty' in my shade garden. Last year it decided not to grow but look what I discovered today. Is this a seedling from the original plant or was there a viable bit of root in there?
This one soldiers on even though it's leaves have become a bit deformed. Thinking that it might be some sort of fungus, I treated the soil with a copper fungicide before the foliage emerged. We'll see how things unfurl.
I love all these Asian podophyllums! Someday, in another life, with a bigger garden...
ReplyDeleteThere's always space for a few more plants. Maybe a pot by your back door or in a bed where a begonia experiment went awry...Not that that would ever happen to you!
DeleteThat's crazy, Peter! So strange the disappearing Podophyllum trick. Good to know that they divide up like this, though.
ReplyDeleteThey take forever to gain size from seedlings but once they're large, they divide themselves and put out large new plants fairly rapidly.
DeleteI found seedlings of my solid green one in the bed, about 6 or 8 feet away. I didn't realize they would self-sow. Actually I think maybe the ants or some other bugs helped. My mottled one hasn't shown up yet. I'm kind of bummed. Maybe next year I'll try taking the ripe fruit and smearing it around.
ReplyDeleteThe Sinopodophyllum (Podophyllum) hexandrum var. chinense that we both picked up a few years ago is always late to emerge for us. So far this year, nothing but I bet it'll make a appearance!
DeleteThis post reads like a mystery novel.
ReplyDeleteI've only experienced this plant through your enthusiastic passion for it; it seems to be more successful in pots, though they remain outside throughout year, right? So what's the deal? Either way, you must feel like a proud papa at their great performance this spring.
They do well in pots for me but the one I have growing in the ground seems very happy. I fear putting a lot of things in the ground because I'm always digging plants and moving them and there are some thugs in my beds (natives no less) that are pretty stiff competition. This is perfectly hardy here and has handled even the phormium killing winters in the pots with no problem at all.
DeleteHow lucky that P delavayi does so well for you! Gorgeous group of plants but growth can have erratic patterns too...on some of them.
ReplyDeleteYes, some Podophyllum are as dependable as rain in the winter; others not so much.
DeleteBecause I didn't know any better (pretty much how my whole life goes) I've planted almost all my podophyllum in the ground. Last spring, and again this year, I meant to dig and pot them up, reading from you and others that they do better in a container. Have I done it? No. Why? Fear that I'll kill them. Sad podophyllum are better than no podophylum, or so I tell myself.
ReplyDeleteOh and I had a eucomis do that disappear and reappear thing. The summer following a bad winter there was no indication they existed. The next spring, they were back! Strange.
If your podophyllum are happy in the ground, I'd leave them there. Mine that established itself in the ground, vanished, and came back seems healthy and I saw a great bed of 'Spotty Dotty' at a garden in Olympia. In the ground, they will seed around even better!
DeleteThe Lazarus of the plant world perhaps? They're beautiful - I understand why you love them.
ReplyDeleteThey're a mystery to me! Something I read on a plant tag of another podophyllum at a plant sale said that they need moisture during the summer but sharp drainage during the winter so that their fleshy roots don't rot. Maybe the potting soil helps with drainage during the winter. Guessing.
DeleteI love these plants too! I've planted three kinds in the ground. I didn't know they might do better in pots; seems like it would be harder to keep them moist, and I want them to spread. What is the theory behind why they'd do better in pots? And thanks to danger garden for her helpful reassurance about the P. delavayi coming up later than the others, I think I see it just starting to emerge now. :-)
ReplyDeleteI've seen very impressive beds of them in the ground, especially at Far Reaches Farm. I like some in pots because I can see them better and I worry about little seedlings set free in my garden of thuggish plants and hungry slugs. It also reminds me of the first time I saw a large P.delavayi. It was in a pot at Heronswood and I fell instantly in love. If you're having good luck with them in the ground, by all means, keep them there.
DeleteGosh, all the mayapples that have called out to me have been in-ground. When I finally succumbed last year, that's where it went. It's coming up! Guess I haven't been paying close enough attention to your Podophylum Chronicles. When I get one with patterned leaves I may confine it to a pot and dedicate it to you.
ReplyDeleteI grow all of the other mayapples in the ground and now that these will be divided again next winter, some will find a home in the ground as they really are stunning there. The pot treatment was mostly to protect the little ones until they could fend for themselves. They just sort of stayed there.
DeleteNot a species I am familiar with but they are obviously very determined by the sounds of it.
ReplyDeleteThey're lovely foliage plants and would look beautiful in your garden, Angie!
DeleteLove the leaves and spots......I too have plants that seem in stasis and then grow again. I have some Clivias that just don't grow but also don't die....I am going to try a few things once it warms up to see if I can get them going : )
ReplyDeleteStrange but interesting creatures, these plants we love!
DeletePlant Delights says, "If you've only seen our native Podophyllum peltatum, you have missed some of the great joys of the genus podophyllum. In the great continental divorce about 250 million years ago, most of the really cool podophyllum species were on the wrong side of the great crack and got stuck in China." Maybe Podophyllums are like Lilies. I always wonder what's going on underground when they're gone for a while and suddenly reappear.
ReplyDeleteI love it! The really cool podophyllum from the wrong side of the great crack is what I'll be calling them from now on!
DeleteGosh, I didn't realize there were so many variegated species! They're gorgeous! I have hundreds of P. peltatum in a huge patch in the wild, wooded part of my garden. It's always a joy when they begin emerging their little umbrellas through the soil in the spring. Interesting the points that Jean made. :)
ReplyDeleteOur native P. peltatum is very nice and clearly Tony Avent thinks it's from the right side of the crack!
DeleteI've been growing Podophyllum delavayi as well as other Podophyllum and related plants including a variety of Arisaema in my wooded west garden where it does particularly well in well-drained shade under a mature spruce. My impression is that it doesn't like too much sun and prefers soil that doesn't get too dry. I once purchased P.d. "Spotty Dotty'
ReplyDeletein a gallon pot for $35. When I planted it in my garden, it had no discernable roots at all! The following year, it appeared as a relatively small plant and has since grown into a lovely specimen. This season, I am planning on digging and relocating and/or dividing two P.d. that appear to be suffering in too much sun. Could anyone advise me about growing a few specimens in pots? I've not thought that they would do well in pots and have never tried growing them this way. Thanks a bunch!
Podophyllum are very happy in pots. You're right, they like well-drained but moist soil (doesn't everything?) and not too much sun, just like when they're in the ground. So, growing them in pots is just like growing them in the ground. Have fun!
ReplyDelete