Zantedeschia aethiopica 'Crowborough' is a UK variety. I seem to
remember a story about it as well, but all I have in my notes is:
"Widely
grown, this selection has wider flowers and is hardier than the type".
You might try googling Arum aethiopica Crowborough, as it is often called in
the UK. The only nursery I have listed as selling it- Duchy of Cornwall
Nursery- no longer has it on their website.
I keep a list of all the
Zantedeschia varieties I have heard of, kind of like those Amorphophiles who
want one of each. However, the list quickly outgrew my hopes- there are
over 500 now. I had hoped to start a database with information on all
those varieties, but I don't think my computer skills will handle that!
There is another person I know of that also has a list, I can't remember his
name right now, he is mostly concerned with Arisaema, though.
I
also have a bit of a pet peeve about Zantedeschia aethiopica. I'm just a
hobbyist gardener who has a passion for Zantedeschia (so please don't
criticize or berate me for my incorrect use of the words hybrid or cultivar),
but I simply don't believe that there are so many different varieties. I
have a list of 57 different Aethiopicas, from Crowborough to Hercules, Lisa,
Moondancer, Snowbaby, the list goes on and on. My opinion (although I'm
likely to be wrong) is that growing conditions (soil, water, nutrients, sun)
account for many of these different cultivars.
We've all seen the
photos of huge blooms and tall plants at Strybling Arboretum of aethiopica
"Hercules". Oddly enough there is only a handful of other photos of it
on the internet- and none of them come anywhere near that size.
Nurseries and ebay sellers have made a fortune selling, it though!
I
used to have Crowbrough, but it was never a good grower for me (although my
plants have to either be grown in pots or dug in the fall- so not good growing
conditions).
Susan
