Saggitaria usually grows alongside true aroids (Peltandra) in the swamps and wetlands around here. I agree, it does have a aroid-looking leaf.
Michael M.

Yep, bog plant. Managed to kill it last year due to lack of humidity (even in my pond- June stinks!) Very awesome plant, though. :-)
Lynn

So it's not a true aroid I take it? What family? Guess I can look it up. This one was very pretty. I think some of them are supposed to be highly invasive sorts, though, aren't they?

Susan

Susan, nope not an aroid. But some Saggitaria have been confused with Aroids in the past. Urospatha friedrichallsii was later found to be a Sagittaria species...not an aroid. So even the Big guys get confused sometimes. Superficially they look like aroids but technically not.

Duck Potato is the Sagittaria generally thought of as being invasive, and since "silk stockings" (common name for plant in question) reproduces in the same manner (little "potatoes" put out by roots), it could be invasive, but is not as hardy a plant so it's not likely.
Lynn

Such a pretty plant, but I really don't have a place for it, unfortunately - no pond. Also, I doubt it's hardiness in Oklahoma zone 7a. I just thought the foliage was so attractive.

Thanks, everyone, for your fantastic input.

Susan

Go for it! Sagittaria australis is a native(not in OK) that is found as far north as Iowa(Zone 5). I have grown Sagittaria in decorative containers on my patio, where they received half day direct sunlight. Another member of the Water Plantain Family(Alismataceae) that I've grown is Echinodorus cordifolius, also a hardy native.Some hybrids have attractive red foliage, but I believe they are only grown as House Plants in terrariums.
While the Arrowhead's foliage resemble members of the Aroid Family(Araceae), especially Peltandra, the inflorescens are very diffferent. The Aroids are characterized by a spadix, containing tiny sessile flowers, from 3 to about 300, subtended or enclosed by a spathe.(Orontium is one exception, usually has no spathe). They can be uni- or bisexual and of various colors. The Water Plaintain Family has inflorescens arranged in racemes or panicles, sometimes umbels, the individual florets usually have 3 broad white petals(sometimes tinted with pink). A very showy plant, when in bloom.
I no longer grow any Water Plantains, as my trees have shaded most of the garden(and patio) and I devote the few remaining sunny locations to other bog plants, mostly Sarracenia.
Good luck!
Rb

I know someone (I think Long Island) on another forum that grows silk stockings in a small lotus bowl (with a lotus BTW), so you don't need a pond! I disagree about the flowers, though- typical sagittaria flowers, I don't find them very showy and the petals only last a day, leaving large seed heads.- I'm a foliage person and the leaves on this plant are more than enough to lift it above others.

And, alas, echinodorous, sarracenia, and orontium, more plants that June in Arizona wipes out- killed them all! Susan, I bet you'd have great success at growing all these- you may have to protect a couple in winter, but you'd have a ton of fun!
Lynn

Lynn, I'll have to check them out, hardiness, etc. Do they have a dormancy period during the winter, or do they just keep on growing if brought indoors?

Razorback and Lynn - I would absolutely love to grow some of the sarracenias, but I don't have a sunny enough area for them. Also, it would be difficult to maintain a bog garden in my yard. I have a very tiny one in the shady back yard, which has a mimulus ringens in it (doing fine BTW), but too much shade for the meat eaters. I may put a lobelia in it next year. Tried a calla aethiopica Crowborough, but it died immediately. I used one of those tin or metal containers that people stash ice and beer in? I don't drink, so I don't know what they're called. Anyway, I buried it to the top, has holes in the bottom, filled with dirt, and it stays pretty wet, despite our horribly hot weather. Hot, but humid.

Susan

The only I know that has a dormancy is the silk stockings (it's tuberous). The others I failed so miserably with :-( They would all absolutley love your humidity, the heat they would thrive on, it's dry heat they don't like.

Sounds like a nifty little bog garden you've got there. If you're interested in taking a risk, just take any patio pot without holes and use that as a container bog garden. I see people do that all the time. You could move it around til you found the right amount of sun. Just a thought!

I wonder if the calla was too wet at a time when it would have liked a short dormancy. Mine like to dry out a little at the end of summer and die back, then come back to life again.

Lynn

Sarracenia's and many other bog plants aren't fussy. I have 2 in ground bogs, but also grow them in a bird bath, plastic & terracotta pots sitting in upsidedown garbage can lids, roaster pans, shallow plastic pastry containers, butter tubs...whatever will hold an inch or 2 of rainfall. As you will gather, I am more concerned with the health of the plants, than esthetics!
I'm sure you would want a container with a more pleasing appearance, but the planting medium is the same, a mixture of milled spagnum peat and coarse sand. There are many opinions about the ratio, but I use a 50/50 mix. Avoid chloronated water if possible, but I use it occasionally during long drought periods.
Have fun!
Rb

About that Z. aethiopica "Crowborough" that met an untimely demise. Several years ago I bought some dormant tubers under this name at a shop in Scotland. Since all Zants are hardy in the ground here, I can't tell whether it's really hardier than others or not, but it is unusual in that the petioles are brown. Does anyone know if this is a distinguishing characteristic of "Crowborough" or not? Other than the brown petioles, it looks like a standard aethiopica.

Thanks,
Keiko

Keiko, I've never grown crowborough- Just wanted to let you know your ? wasn't being ignored. Hope some will reply that has grown it!
Lynn

That was the first time I had grown it, so I don't have a clue as to the variation in stem color. I thing I got it from Lazy S's Farms, though. I am sure it was probably ready for dormancy since it was late in the year.

Razorback - I was just positive you were from Arkansas due to your moniker. But you're a Georgia Razorback! You must get more rain there than we do in Oklahoma. There is no way I could use a bird bath or garbage can lid, or anyhing that shallow or out of the ground for that matter for bog plants here. Number 1 - we usually get NO rain during our summers. So my plants all get chlorinated water from the hose. I see people here who have rain barrels, and I am always wondering why. We do, in very rare summers, get some rain, but not enough to piddle in a rain barrel. LOL! I guess you "could" fill them with chlorinated water and allow it to sit for at least 24 hours to allow the chlorine to dissipate from the water, and then use it. I do this with houseplants.

BTW, I don't find your containers offensive at all. I would use them if they would work for me in our hot summers. It's just that they absolutely wouldn't, except for the big galvanized tub that I buried in the ground. That stays pretty wet, but I still have to occasionally add some moisture to it.

Keiko, the lady that owns Lazy S's would probably be happy to answer your question, though. She's very nice and very responsive to questions.

Susan

Susan-
I spent some time working in NE OK during one summer in the '80's and the rolling hills looked so lush and green, that I assumed there was ample summer moisture from the frequent thunderstorms. I looked up the average annual rainfall records for OKC for the past 50 years and was somewhat surprised to find that is only about 33-34", slightly more than two-thirds of our 50". But we have been in a drought cycle for several years(until this year) and annual rainfall has been in the 35-40" range. We are still constrained by permanent severe watering restrictions, unless you have a well. Out of the question for me, since I'm only about 30' above a very thick granite slab. I also collect rainwater for my houseplants and have several large storage containers, but as you do, have to occasionally fill them with chlorinated water and let it sit for several days before using it. The water company increases the chlorine content during the summer and I often let it stand for a couple of weeks before using it.
Yes, I am a displaced Razorback! Born and raised in Ark., but worked for a national company that transferred me around the country and I finally wound up here. Had visions of going home again and repurchasing the old homeplace, a small ranch in the Ozarks, but it no longer exists, there is an auto repair shop and used car lot where our home once stood. The huge Cedars(and small ones), the Cacti, the Persimmons, the chinkapins, the rock terraces, with their Rattlesnake dens, all gone! The crystal clear creek; polluted! Guess the old saying is correct, you can't go home again!
Rb

Going to PM you.....

Susan