Could someone explain how to start a voodoo lily bulb, when is the best time to start it and any info you might have about growing these...I know what they look like when they bloom and that they are very "stinky smelling". Also how big do the bulbs have to get before they bloom?

I did an internet search for scaling method of propagating Lillies and found a site that might interest you.

Lily Propagation Methods

From my library of Ortho Books/All About Bulbs:

other sources:

Propagation of Bulbs/Colorado State University:
Propagation of Bulbs

http://www.lilies.org/propagation.html

Thank You papito!!! I had already found the info I needed else where:

Dracunculus vulgaris (Family, Araceae) is both startling and fascinating. Native to the Balkans, Mediterranean Europe, Greece, the isle of Crete and the Aegean Islands, the land of myths and monsters is the perfect home for this wildflower. It has many names. The Greeks call it "drakondea" or dragon flower. It is also know as the voodoo lily, stink lily, devil's tongue, black dragon or dragon lily.

At first glance it looks like a jungle flower for the size of its blossom, the dark, intense colors, the unusually fingered leaves and snakeskin-patterned stem.

The flower is really a lipped spathe, similar to a Calla, but larger, slightly ruffled and dark maroon. From this springs a purple-black spadex that can be from 10 to 53 inches long. It isn't called amorphallis in form for nothing. One on-line wag dubbed it the Viagra Lily. It blooms in May or June for a day or two.

The leaves are pale green with white accents arranged in sets of threes on a stem resembling an open necklace or antlers in form. The true blossoms are hidden inside the spathe and pollinated by carrion-eating pollinators such as flies. The scent is of meat gone bad, but it only lasts about a day. However, I wouldn't plant them near my front door!

The Drakondea reproduces by self-seeding and bulb offsets. The seed head falls over when ripe and drops to the ground where ants and beetles may carry the seeds to other parts of the garden. The seed head is a heavy cluster of tightly packed, red-orange berries at the end of a stalk.

Here is another Article referring to one I have. Until I received a couple of bulbs, I had no idea that there were so many different ones. I also found out that I can plant this one outdoors in my flower bed and just leave it year around in zone 7.

GH web page

The dracunculus is very similar to an amorphophallus but is easier to grow. I brought one with me from my previous house. This is it last year.



It is, as comfrey says, totally hardy I'm zone 8 and have to overwinter my amorphos under glass but not the dracunculus. It is best propagated from offsets. Just pop them in (it prefers a partial shade with plenty of water but good drainage. Neutral to slightly acid soil) and forget them.

As you can see it is very beautiful, although the 'flower' is short lived, and it has one thing in common with its cousin amorpho - it smells like a dead horse when flowering. This is to attract insects, for pollination - it is not an insectivore. Do NOT plant too near the house. poooh!!!!

That's a good picture..
I love it..
*I got one, and it started to sprout,
but we got a big cold snap last year,
and I don't know if that did it in or not.

How big do the bulbs need to be to bloom the first year? Or will my bulbs bloom the first year no matter what size?

Can't answer that exactly. The one I just moved is about 6 inches in largest dimension but was planted some years ago after being taken off another corm. It did not flower for I think first 3 years but then the fourth started to self seed (seed takes 5 or 6 years to flower) and has developed its own offsets which I have given away to friends (well they were friends until they smelled it) or simply left in the ground at the old home for the new owner (boy are they in for a surprise). If you just have a two inch or so bulb I would be very surprised if it flowers for a year or two but conditions in Arkansas will be different from the Yorkshire coast. If you can, then I would plant it now, if you haven't done so yet, to give it a good start. I see you are zone 7 and it is supposed to be hardy to zone 5 so unless you get a freak winter like weezie (who is after all zone 5) then you should be OK.

So its alright to go ahead and plant it outdoors right now...Correct? And yes the bulbs I have, one is about the size of a quarter the other just a tad smaller.

Yes plant them both. To insure you could plant them in pots. What I would do is plant the larger one in the garden and the smaller one in a pot. If you have a greenhouse or cold frame then it will be perfectly safe without added heat. If you have to, just keep it in the house but don't forget it and let it flower. The stink is really bad in a closed in room. Honestly though these are exotic not tropical and are not difficult and are very hardy in our zones. You should get some leaf this year but not an inflorescence.

Thanks for your help webwise!!!!!!