Dear Friends, After weeks of unseasonable chill and damp, the sun has come out and temps near 90 (same for humidity). This has triggered some much awaited bloom. 1. Helicodiceros musciverous. I have written a few years ago about trying this in the ground here and surprised at its survival. You can still Google this and find it is only hardy to Zone 9/ 10. It has survived at least 4 years and perhaps longer, but this year after a long cold continuous chill it came up strong and has bloomed yesterday. The incredible (and incredibly stinky) flower (inflorescence) is one of nature's wonders. Perfectly shaped to resemble the rotted rear end of a dead horse (as it is commonly known). The spathe spreads wide in a putrid sort of pink color. The hairy tail-like spadix emerges from a hole (no imagery needed here) and flies swarm too it like candy. The odor is as bad as you can imagine for rotting flesh. Considering its often reported tenderness I am thrilled to have a blooming plant in the garden, stink and all. 2. Dracunculus vulgaris Closely related to the above in odor and as another Aroid, this is a far more common plant in my climate. I have 4 good sized clumps that bloom regularly. Two flowers open yesterday and continue perfuming the garden today. The flowers are well over a foot long and half that width looking like a slab of meat that has gone 'off'. But the color is rich and robust with a deep black imposing spadix to offset the weirdness. I have at least 6 flowers to go and anticipate each wonder as they open. Recently Tony Avent, Tom Mitchell, Alan Galloway travelled to Crete and Tony posted photos of this species in the wild with white spathes, yellow spadix and a range of marbled colors as much as 6 ft tall. Wow! Check out his Plant Delights blog if you haven't already. 3. Sisyrinchium patagonicum On a much smaller scale. I've tried a variety of South American Yellow Flowered Sisyrinchium and none have proven hardy in my climate until now (I wish S. striatum 'Aunt May' was hardier). After starting from seed last year and planting out in mid-summer, the resulting plants have produced a number of small yellow star-like flowers of bright clear yellow. A first! The flowers are one and one half times as big (but still small) as our common (weedy) 'Blue-Eyed Grass' S. latifolium and a good variation. Now I wonder if they'll set seed or even cross with each other. I also tried S. palmifolium without survival, but I have a few more seedlings to sacrifice. 4. Iris speculatrix This is a fairly rare (in cultivation) iris in the Chinenses Series. Originally described from Hong Kong it grows farther north along the E. Coast of China. I've grown this for years, but it has never been happy. At least 2 -maybe three - moves and it has found a spot to its liking. The clump doubled last year and now has 4 open flowers. The flowers are small with a mix of pale lilac, white and yellow with an interesting halo marking around the signal. This is in the same group as I. odaesaanensis, I. koreana and others. A good woodlander that would be happier a zone or 2 south of here. 5. Iris 'Alley Oops' This was introduced a few years ago, but I have finally grown a plant. The ancestry is unknown, but guessed as a rare cross between I. pseudacorus and some Siberian Iris. This is an odd chromosomal mix and surely it is sterile. The flowers resemble I pseudacorus, but the falls have fine purple veins washed with pale yellow. The yellow fades quickly to white. It is a vigorous and intriguing mix of characters. So far, I 'think' I like it. Of course other choice non-bulbous plants are popping up surely (in part) to our sudden change to warm weather. It would be nice to be somewhere inbetween chill and sweltering like 'moderate'. Oh well. Best Jim W. -- Dr. James W. Waddick 8871 NW Brostrom Rd. Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711 USA Ph. 816-746-1949 Zone 5 Record low -23F Summer 100F +