Re: [SG] calla lilies
- To: s*@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
- Subject: Re: [SG] calla lilies
- From: B* S* <B*@HSC.EDU>
- Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 09:35:13 -0400
>Perhaps you can tell me something about Zantedeschia aethiopica
>'Crowborough', which I've had in a pot for a few years. I've always kept
>it in a saucer with water in the saucer....seems OK with that, but the odd
>thing is that it seems to want to come into growth in winter in my cool
>(40F-60F) greenhouse; bloom late March - early April and then go dormant
>about now. Is this typical behavior for this cultivar? Have not put it in
>the ground because I'm just not positive it's hardy here in the cold part
>of z.7...do you know? Also had no really damp spot until I made my
>"damp/bog" garden last fall. If it is hardy, wonder if it would like those
>kind of conditions - always damp with flooding during really heavy rains,
>but drains off surface in a day....clay soil.
As I understand it, aethiopica is now the sole member of the genus Calla
and is not a Zantedeschia. Native to S. Africa, aethiopica will naturally
tend to grow and bloom in our winter unless it can be 'reversed' by making
it skip the winter season (keeping it dormant) and starting it again in
spring. Plants kept indoors tend to stay evergreen and grow and bloom in
the winter. It does indeed like wet conditions. In California I have seen
beautiful naturalized plantings (it has also escaped there and become a
part of the landscape) in wet gullies or ravines leading down to the
Pacific. 'Crowborough' was touted some years ago as hardy to Z6, but I do
not have any personal experience and would not urge you to experiment with
a beloved plant!
You could try drying it off completely after the next growth cycle and
start watering again in the spring. That might 'reverse' it. The boggy
places it grows in often dry out completely during the summer and the plant
disappears to its tuber.
Right now I am enjoying a very good display of lavender, yellow and white
hybrid Zantedeschias in the front of my Japanese/Louisiana iris planting.
The individual flowers last for 2 weeks, at least. Much to my dismay, a
collection of named varieties from van Bourgondien's turned out to be all
very similar, if not the same. They were packaged separately and labelled
with different names; none resemble their catalog pictures except for one
pale pinkish white. Otherwise all seem identical to one another, sort of
mid-lavender. The yellows and whites came from a mixed bag bought at
WallMart, which truly was a mixture! My experience this year is of
WallMart bulbs of callas and cannas outperforming and being more
true-to-name than those ordered from Dutch growers!
When the foliage yellows in late summer, I simply pull the Zantedeschias
up, clean them, let them dry, and store them in a bag until next spring.
Very easy and very rewarding.
Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills@hsc.edu>
