While most gardeners are busy planting tulips and daffodils, I dug up and divided a congested clump of the native jack-in-the-pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum. They had become too congested,
and were growing on top of one another. I could have just left them, and let Nature take its course, but this is a garden, where a little tweaking of nature is often necessary.
First I removed the fallen fruit stalks, and deposited them in an area where I'd like to have Arisaema growing.
I had neglected this task in previous years, which allowed the seeds to germinate too close to the mother plants.
Having ascertained the location of the plants from the fallen stalks, I then carefully excavated the area.
Only a few corms were damaged in the process, which yielded a good crop (top photo). I replanted only the largest of the corms in the hole.
The rest were stuffed into the ground in various locations throughout the woodland garden.
While the display next year will probably be anemic as the corms have been placed further apart, in future years, the display will once again be a spring and summer focal point.
