symplocarpus (skunk cabbage) querys

From: "Mike Bosold" mbosold at meijergardens.org> on 2002.04.12 at 16:12:04(8532) While at me friends house last night I walked his new property and found myself surrounded by skunk cabbage, what a lovely sight! Beautiful and very prolific. Was thinking about transplanting some to the gardens here in our native/wet areas. I was wondering if these transplant well, and when the best time to do it would be. They are fully showing the spathe/spadix and the leaf bud is about 1" tall. Most are about medium to large size and look quite mature. Should I choose the bigger ones or the smaller ones? The area here is almost identical in soil and moisture content. Any help/suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks Mike +More p.s. what about seed starting, any comments on this cool plant appreciated... Michael Bosold Outdoor Horticulturist Frederik Meijer Gardens 1000 East Beltline Ave. NE Grand Rapids, MI 49525 ph. 616-977-7694 fax.616-975-9545 mbosold@meijergardens.org www.meijergardens.org

From: Bob Burns bobburns61 at yahoo.com> on 2002.04.14 at 03:28:13(8538) About skunk-cabbage: Though I have none around me now and would love some (in central GA) I grew up in MI in skunk-cabbage heaven. I would mark the plants you want to move somehow and wait till they go dormant, say late in the summer or in the fall, to move them. There is a rhizome down there, and on a big one it can be both deeper and bigger than you might think. If you must try to move one while growing, then be prepared to dig up a huge root ball all around and under the plant...like maybe the size of a bushel basket? When they are dormant there won't be as many live roots attached to the rhizome and it will tolerate their loss better. Of course moving a small one would be proportionally easier. I'd guess, too, that it would be a slow process to grow this to blooming size from seed...like maybe five years? You should be able to find some closer to you, too...it's pretty common up there. Bob Burns +More --- Mike Bosold wrote: > While at me friends house last night I walked his > new property and found > myself surrounded by skunk cabbage, what a lovely > sight! Beautiful and > very prolific. Was thinking about transplanting some > to the gardens here in > our native/wet areas. I was wondering if these > transplant well, and when > the best time to do it would be. They are fully > showing the spathe/spadix > and the leaf bud is about 1" tall. Most are about > medium to large size and > look quite mature. Should I choose the bigger ones > or the smaller ones? > The area here is almost identical in soil and > moisture content. Any > help/suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks > Mike > p.s. what about seed starting, any comments on this > cool plant > appreciated... > > > Michael Bosold > Outdoor Horticulturist > Frederik Meijer Gardens > 1000 East Beltline Ave. NE > Grand Rapids, MI 49525 > ph. 616-977-7694 > fax.616-975-9545 > mbosold@meijergardens.org > www.meijergardens.org > > > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/

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