My first Pinellias

Last year, Derek got some great photos of his Pinellia tripartita in bloom, including one photo which was featured in the International Aroid Society calendar.  This plant is known to spread like crazy, since it offsets from the tubers, produces viable seed and also form bulbils at base of the petioles.  He shared some of his bulb offsets with me and then later some seeds, too.  I planted these in pots and kept them in my greenhouse over the winter.  The seeds sprouted shortly after I got them and stayed about the same over the winter.  The bulb offsets were dormant when I potted them up, but they have come up now and produced an inflorescence, which now has berries (infructescence).

Pinellia tripartita

I haven't planted this one outside yet and it performed so well for me in the pot this year that I don't know if I will.  However, since I have so many seeds, it looks like I could easily have enough to plant some outdoors and keep some in pots, which would be nice.

Pinellia tripartita infructescence

At the IAS show in September I picked up a Pinellia pedatisecta,  which Dr. Croat had pulled up from his own yard.  I planted that one outside and it has also come up and produced an inflorescence, and has now set berries.  Both of these plants are hardy in zones 5-10, so they shouldn't have any trouble with the extreme heat or freezing temperatures of my zone.

Pinellia pedatisecta

Pinellia pedatisecta infructescence

At the Wichita orchid show I traded some plants with friends that I was meeting there.  I got a nice clump of Pinellia ternata from Steve and have planted those beside the Pinellia pedatisecta beside the greenhouse.  This plant also produces bulbils at the base of the petioles, so it spreads in a variety of methods.

Pinellia ternata

I know this plant doesn't look great right now, having just been transplanted, but it should perk up given a little time.  Hopefully next year the clump is just as big and has a couple of blooms to go along with it.  This little strip of garden along the back side of my greenhouse is becoming the hardy aroids area.