Deja Voodoo

Balloon Flower has never captured my attention. Don't ask me why. Gardeners can be a fickle lot.

A deciduous tropical bulb with single compound leaf and a flower that smells like dead carrion, now that captures my attention. Three out of four pots of my Voodoo Lily, Amorphophallus konjac have woken up so far. It is a very late riser.

I first encountered this oddity many moons ago in the town where I grew up growing in the ground in the botanical garden where I was a volunteer. I went to visit at some point after my return from Maui and this bulb which very generously makes bulblets on the leaf offered me one.

I grow them in pots and store them in the unheated mechanical room next door for the winter. What started as a single pea sized bulblet is now four pots of Voodoo Lilies. I haven't had a bloom yet, but the plants are getting quite big. Every year I gather the bulblets and pot them up for winter storage.

Japanese Iris, Iris ensata, is quite good at setting seed and self sowing. There is a garden where the seedlings get pulled as weeds. Now I certainly could have stuck a a shovel in any clump I wanted. Instead, a little seedling followed me home. I like the challenge. What color would it be?

Meh. It's white. I better mark some clumps while they have blooms left. I've been meaning to stick a shovel in some for relocation to the other garden.

It happened. 'Clyde Redmond', the deep blue iris of Maui, will be coming to live high on the low spot. I may have accidentally ordered another Louisiana iris 'Black Widow' while I was there. I wanted the 'Deja Voodoo' but it was already sold out. Now where will I put them? I have until August to think about it.

Somebody has been chewing on the Black Gamecock. Damn bugs. They better leave Clyde alone until he begins to multiply.

Iris with a history on Maui. Voodoo from Florida. More iris from a Posh Estate and Tennessee. Rose Campion from Wamboldtopia. Chicory collected along the scenic byway. They come from all over. The garden fills with mana.