I realize that to many gardeners these plants have as much to love as the bubonic plague but I have 3 species of them in my garden and their virtues far outweigh their faults in my eyes.

The 3 I am growing are:

P. ternata - Perhaps the least well behaved of the 3, it still has a lovely habit and stamina to overcome nearly anything. I have it in a bed of pachysandra and it puts on a 3 month show of spathes which rise above the pachysandra leaves and always excite interest. I have never found another plant that will cohabit with pachysandra like this.

P. pedatisecta - A very large one up to nearly 20" tall but very vigorous and with lovely leaves. Very long bloom season and the only aroid I have ever managed to bloom from seed in 1 year.

P. tripartita - I grow the variegated variety which I purchased under the varietal name "Dragon Tails". A lovely light yellow-green and yellow blend leaf with abundant spaths. Surprisingly this looks like it will form virtually all variegated plants from its seed which seem to require no cold treatment for germination but will sprout in a few weeks from fresh seed.

Despite the reputation of all these as aggressive invasives, I have had no problems with controlling them in my garden. I have had the ternata for 12 years and the other 2 for 4 and 5 years respectively and aside from a few seedlings near the mother plants and the normal expected clump growth I have seen none of this. Their long bloom period is unique in my experience (limited its true) in aroids. Your results may be different of course.

George