Southern Gardening Facebook Page

Did you know that Southern Gardening has its own Facebook page? That's right and it delivers great garden and plant information. For example, during the last week of June, a very rare horticultural event took place right here in Mississippi, and we covered it on the Southern Gardening Facebook page. A titan arum plant, which is native to Sumatra, bloomed at the South Mississippi Branch Experiment Station in Poplarville. Titan arum, this one was nicknamed Spike, has the distinction of producing the largest inflorescence, made up of many, many individual flowers, in the plant world. The inflorescence is composed of a fleshy central structure called a spadix. Spike’s grew to a height of 65 inches. Around the spadix is the petal-like spathe, which when fully unfurled has a deep burgundy inner surface and ruffled edge. What’s so interesting is that Titan arums don’t bloom every year, Spike is a nine year old flowering for the first time. Another interesting and unusual fact is the method used to attract pollinators. When the plant bloom it produces an aroma that is not what I would call floral. In fact it smells like rotting meat and the pollinators attracted include blow flies and carrion beetles. You can understand why Titan arum has gotten another and very descriptive common name: the corpse flower. You can follow us by searching for, and then “liking” the Southern Gardening Facebook page. Doing this will not only give you another way to watch Southern Gardening, but also open up another path to some great gardening information. I’m horticulturist Gary Bachman and I’ll see you next time on Southern Gardening.