Jim McKenney wrote: The plants growing here have been outside for decades, and they spread > themselves around a bit. They're not yet weedy, but the coarse foliage is no > friend to smaller plants. I agree with this statement, but the answer is not to grow Sauromatum with smaller plants that are in growth at the same time. I find it an ideal partner to smaller bulbs - when planted deeply, below the other things. It has yet to emerge here (like Arisaema candidissimum) while all the smaller bulbs are now more or less dormant. When it shows up it will occupy an empty temporal and spatial niche in a most convenient way, providing a lovely foliage display for the rest of the summer and then getting out of the way again. It has been totally hardy in Maidenhead for the past 14 years, at least. A damp spot in a warm site will undoubtedly make it very happy, but my largest patch is in rather arid soil and apparently quite happy there. In my various gardens I grow 4 different stocks of Sauromatum venosum, including one from Kenya, and I could not say that there is any difference in hardiness between them. There is slight variation in foliage shape and especially the colour of the petiole and its blotches, but nothing significant. Flowering is occasional and in the open is comparatively inoffensive compared to the various other stinking aroids I grow. Fruits usually follow, but I have not attempted to grow the seed and am not sure if it germinates in the garden. John Grimshaw Dr John M. Grimshaw Garden Manager, Colesbourne Gardens Sycamore Cottage Colesbourne Nr Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 9NP Website: http://www.colesbournegardens.org.uk/ >