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.

Brick garden complete

The last time I showed you the brick garden path, it looked like this:

Brick path back in mid-March

Here are some updates, now that the sod has been laid and plants are established.  Right around the brick path and along our back porch, we laid fescue sod, which is doing really well.  We also seeded in the area surrounding that and our grass seedlings are starting to blend in with the sod so the harsh corners of the grassy area are now rounded off and extended to a broader area.

Completed brick path and garden around the greenhouse

In the garden between the brick path and the greenhouse we have planted Blue Star Junipers (Juniperus squamata 'Blue Star'), Gauras (Oenothera), Pieris (Pieris japonica 'Valley Rose') and mouse tail plants (Arisarum).  You can also see in the picture above that I have pulled out many of my plants from the greenhouse, my potting bench is in getting use and there are pots all over the place.

Blue star juniper (Juniperus squamata 'Blue Star')

The Forsythia is all green now, with the yellow blooms of Spring gone.  But the Gauras (Oenothera) have established themselves well and are covered  in really nice pink blooms.

Gaura (Oenothera), Juniper (Juniperus squamata 'Blue Star') and Forsythia

Opposite the Forsythia bush is a variegated Chinese Privet (Ligustrum sinense 'Variegata'), which I think really helps carry the feel of the garden around the corner with the brick path.  The Privet is in the olive family, Oleaceae.

Privet bush (Ligustrum sinense 'Variegata'), which helps your eye round the corner

The Privet has been blooming, although you wouldn't know it unless you were looking at it as closely as I have been.  The flowers (pictured below) are tiny and have a sweet fragrance if you get your nose right up on them.

Extreme close-up of the Privet bush (Ligustrum sinense 'Variegata') blooms