Well, there are very few evergreen Amorphs so that narrows your search. Very few of those are dwarfs. The typical thing is for people to grow them for the summer and store the tubers dormant for the winter. Some dwarfs that I love are pygmaeus, saururus, verticillatus (supposedly evergreen, but not for me), obscurus (some wonderful variegated forms out there) and sizemoreae. Of course, absolutely none of these would be considered real common (except the plain leaf form of obscurus which is easily had) and are probably harder to find than the common titanum. If you have never grown one then perhaps a good starting point is good ol' Am. konjac....easy as anything else in the garden except maybe daisies and nicely rises in May/June and goes dormant again in say Sept/Oct. Perfect for the climate that has winter :o) Dan

Hi terpguy,
The reason A. titanium has such a reputation for being difficult is that people tried to grow them initially from tubers imported from Sumatra, which were already heavily diseased and very very hard to grow and very hard to get to flower and died straight after if they did flower.

People have now realised this and instead grow healthy plants from seed, which are not difficult to grow (provided you have room for a plant with a 6ft 6ins leaf!

If you want a flower you are talking of keeping this 6ft 6inches plant above 10 C for 7 to 9 years, which is a bit inconvenient for most people.

I would also add that some of the African species are very nicely behaved in that as Wilbert said to me they have a naturally short growing season but really pack a lot into a short time....mossambicensis and abyssinicus come to mind from my collection....they start up in May and go dormant in Oct....again, perfect for my climate!!

My only caution on titanum is that the vast majority of us have only been growing it from seed obtained 2 years ago (almost...summer of 2004)....thus, in my opinion, people like me have almost no real experience with this species. So far, they have been easy....keep 'em wet and warm and they are happy....I just exhumed one from a pot last night as it just went dormant after 20 months....tuber looks fantastic as expected and it is already re-potted and watered...these can not be stored dry like most others.....however, until many of us have had them for 5+ years I think I will hold off on declaring them easy....I hope that rubbleshop is right, but I have talked to other people that I think are some of the finest Amorph growers in the U.S. and they have told me too many horror stories of losing theirs after 3-4 years from seed. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!! By the way, you can buy a titanum seedling from Plant Delights for $40 I believe, unless they are sold out. Best of luck :o) Dan

And there is another on sale by "Worldwide Tropicals" at the link below at the moment. However, I don't know what theirs are like, because I have never bought anything from them.

I got my first in 1983, but that was from Sumatra. I was keen to get the biggest tuber I could, which was inevitably diseased, so died. Then I tried smaller tubers, but they were still diseased and died. The breakthrough was growing them from seed!

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to a titan arum someone is selling.

Wow, thanks a lot! Looks like I have some research to do!

If you don't mind, where exactly are the titanum seeds coming from? Obviously from blooming, but usually if there is a blooming anywhere it attracts massive attention. But the seed supply seems to far exceed the number of bloomings at least I've heard about (fairchild, DC, and kew are the only ones i know of in the last couple years).

Thanks a lot for the help and advice!

I had two bloom together 6 ft apart year before last, so had a good pollination rate (and neighbours in need of resuscitation). I am sure there are lots of bloomings we don't hear about. Just the ones at big organisations who tell the press because publicity brings customers. People in private houses do not want "customers" or trespassers in their gardens.

Remember, one bloom can produce a large amount of seeds! Maybe not at Kew, but bet it would if they had two flower together outdoors where the flies could come and next to each other.

I shall not do it again though, because one of the days was very still wind wise and the smell was atroscous! I think everyone thought there was something dead in my garden. Well perhaps not, because I have subjected them to Amorphophallus paeonifolius rather frequently.

Bet you are all glad you don't live near me.

As for all the seeds on the market, the Indonesian Government is giving collecting permits out to many Island inhabitants. These islands are being de-forested at a scary rate by developers of various kinds, so it is as well that the locals are rescuing many seeds from the ploughs, as well as making a good living.