Re: "Yams"

From: "Robert Wagner" <robwagner at robwagner.seanet.com> on 1997.07.06 at 16:18:08(918) Julius, I have never been to Trinidad, but I have heard a lot about what a colorful and cosmopolitan place it is. The only Dioscorea I've ever seen is my own, D. batatas, except for a few B&W pictures in a plant catalog. Some of the tropical Dioscoreas must be dramatic. I take it you no longer live in Trinidad; if it's too cold for Caribbean yams wherever you are, you are welcome to starts of mine if you want any. Read on... Dewey, I have bad news for you: Dioscoreas seem to have a weird prediliction for being more root hardy than one would imagine from their tropical affinities (and a few truly hardy ones hail from Japan and the Balkans!). I suspect that their tubers going as deep as they do helps keep them out of harm's way. Mine tolerates not only cool, dry summers (without irrigation) but also mildly frosty and extremely wet winters that do in a lot of subtropical and warm-temperate plants. And it grows with tropical vigor! Luckily my garden is so densely planted the tuberils and seeds rarely find their way down to the ground. Back on topic here: Arisaema candidissima is blooming. A. tortuosum is missing but probably OK--it always comes up rediculously late for some reason. Probably waiting for the summer monsoon, that doesn't happen here... +More Robert

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