Dracunculus vulgaris cultural requirements?

From: "Marge Talt" <mtalt at clark.net> on 1997.10.05 at 18:14:19(1391) Greetings, I've just received 5 large corms? of D. vulgaris from a friend in Holland. Some of them look like they are starting into growth, showing a definite point that looks like it's trying to form roots. +More >From reading past posts, I understand these guys would be hardy in my USDA zone 7 garden, but I don't have much clue on what kind of conditions they need to thrive. My soil is basic Maryland clay -- on the acid side. I have woodland beds of part sun or dappled shade with as much as a foot of rotted wood chips over this clay which in one bed has a lot of 3/4" bluestone gravel in it; I have a fairly small new bed of enriched clay in combination with compost and spent potting soil containing a good amount of grit that is east facing and gets sun for about 3 hours a day; I have borders of amended clay, all drain well and most are pretty full of large woody plants as well as assorted perennials -- these tend to get a bit dry and are basically either shady or partially shady. I'm making a sand bed for sun and good drainage lovers that will get planted tomorrow...this is 12 inches of sand and pea gravel over a couple inches of compost over clay that drains well. Do any of the above conditions sound like they would do or do I need to quickly make another type of environment?? Or, should I pot these guys up and overwinter in my cool to cold pseudo greenhouse? Any and all help will be vastly appreciated. Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland mtalt@clark.net Editor: Gardening in Shade http://www.suite101.com/frontpage/frontpage.cfm?topicID"2 Gardening Topic Index for Suite101: http://www.suite101.com/userfiles/79/gardening.html

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