Calla lilies are so long lasting in the vase and they have such a variety of colours. We once grew them as a commercial cut flower. Haven't seen any postings about this lily so thought I would send this photo in and find out if it is grown by other members.
hi ferrymead, I love your country! Many people here grow callas. This year I bought zant. Flame and a pink one. I also have white, (in a pot) and I am crazy about Green Goddess, of which I just posted a pic. Also planted Picasso in December 05, don't know if I'll see blooms this year.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/574067/
what variety is your calla? very pretty!
Hi Vossner,
Green Goddess is a strinking looking Calla, yours looks very good. The photo I sent is one called Treasure. Normally, the spathe isnot shaped like that but we took the photo because the shape was unusual. Normally the top of the spathe is even apart from its tip. This one here is called Cameo, a very vigorous grower and the stems werre often over a metre tall with very hefty stems. We only grew it for a couple of seasons as it did not colour up as brightly as it could do, seems our summer days were not quite hot enough. It was beautiful though and we have got a few tubers of these which we kept for our own garden, along with other favourites.
Vossner - I'm also planning to put a white calla in a pot this summer. How big a pot did you use?
beaker, 4 gal.
ferry, i luv it!
Thanks for the info ferrymead. I love the taller ones, so I'll have to try Cameo. Do you have any pics of the masses you grew for cut flowers? I bet that was beautiful. I order cut flowers (to work with at the flower shop) from New Zealand when I can; always the best flowers I've gotten from there, especially callas and hydrangeas.
Neal.
Hi Gemini,
Thanks for your reply. Will look back thru the photo albums and send you a d- mail with some photos of the Callas. We used to pack out thousands of them every week during the growing season. It was a huge amount of work but it was a lovely sight to see all the lilies waiting to be processed. All that is behind us now as we are semi retired.
I am going away for a few days early tomorrow morning for three days and will sort it out when I return home.
Calla Lillies are one of my obsessions!
#1 Midnight Eclipse
#2 Captain Corona
#3 Hot Flashes
#4 Plum Crazy
#5 Pink Persuasion
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/37977/index.html
#6 Green Goddess
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/37976/index.html
#7 Schwarzwalder
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/57537/index.html
#8 Black Eyed Beauty
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/57430/index.html
Shirley, you have so many gorgeous varieties! Do you leave yours in the ground in winter? I've heard reports that they return quite reliably here in zone 6, but I had too few to experiment with in fall.
very lovely, some of my favorites too...but given the zone they have to be in pots and that has been a pain this winter....will see if they rejuvenate soon.
Major Zone envy here.
I have 3 whites in large pots.
Hello every one who responded. Shirley such lovely varieties, some new to me apart from Black eyed Beuty and Green Godess. Have only one phot of the packing shed - I was obviously too busy during those by gone packing days to take photos!! Not being too clever with sending off pics I hope this comes out O.K. on the site. Neil, Our exporters did send our blooms over to the states, which we knew from the export numbers we were given. So glad that our New Zealand flowers were top quality. We;;, here goes, hope it is what I expect it to be,
Cheers, Ferrymead.
Well, I had to scan the photo of the packing of the Calla stems as it was taken on an ordinary camera not the digital one I have now. It doesn't look clear, must be the way I scanned it.!!!!! Wish I wa more technically minded and could bring it back into focus - but this is the best I could do. As only gardeners will be viewing this and I know that every gardener is always such a lovely person I know you will understand !!
Cheers, Ferrymead.
Cool pic, ferrymeade
Shirley that Hot Flashes is fantastic! Does it hold its color or is there fading? DO you grow in pots or pull up in wintertime?
I can still tell that those are huge, gorgeous callas! Thanks for your trouble :)
Neal
Calla lilies--I love them and they hate me. if they don't rot in the ground, they send up sickly leaves that die in the summer heat. I've planted them 3 times in 3 parts of my yard--that's the limit of my patience.
Beautiful, but I'm tired of killing them.
Wanda, I'm with you - the old white ones grow like mad for me - the new gorgeous colours do just what you described - wobble and croak,
very disappointing!
Wanda and 2zeus, how hot are your summers? I think some of the callas appreciate heat and humidity, and wonder if that's the problem.
Neal.
I found this on colored calla lily culture:
"Upon arrival of your colored calla lilies, unpack and let sit in a single layer on a dry, well ventilated area for a few days. This allows them to dry and “harden” prior to planting.
Colored calla lily bulbs are known as tubers, which have developing shoots or growth tips on top of the bulbs, and is round on the bottom. Plant calla lily tubers 2” deep with the developing shoots pointed upward. Calla lily bulbs require a loose, well-draining soil. In cooler, milder climates, callas perform with greater growth and vigor in full sun. Full sun also encourages brighter and richer calla lily bloom color. In warmer climates, though, they should be planted in partial shade to avoid excessive soil temperatures.
Mulching your soil will also aid in controlling soil temperature and aid in stress management of the calla lily plant. Calla lilies need a moist soil medium. It is important that soil never completely dries out, nor is water sodden."
After reading this, I think if you mix a little sand in with your potting mix, it might do quite well.
I ordered a "Flame" calla from a supplier here in Canada, which turned into two replacements for the original, took 3 years, and I didn't get one lousy bloom the entire time! Nice healthy spotted leaves each year, but nary a bloom to be seen...
I get nice hot summers - hot enough to need air conditioning.
Gosh, so sorry to hear of all the failures members have had with growing Callas.
Rotting of tubers can be put down to three reasons. Firstly, the tuber may have been purchased with inherent rot waiting to show itself if the growing conditions are not right and the growing tuber is become stressed. The three main reasons follow:
The tuber may rot away if the ground it is planted in is either over watered or left to dry out.
The ground it is planted in must have good drainage, rot will occur if the tuber remains too long in over watered growing medium.
Over nitrogenous fertilisation can also cause the tubers to be non flower producing. Too much nitrogenous fertilizer through out the growing season will produce masses of lush leaves and cause the tuber be beocme over big and soft. . HIgh nitrogen is fine at planting time to iniatiate leaf formation but you will need to give potash after the leaves appear to produce good flowering blooms.
Planting depth has some relevance, usually they are planted at twice the depth of th size of the tuber - if a tuber measures one inch from top to bottom, it is planted with the top of the tuber two inches below the the top of the ground.
Although, this is not an exact requirement, when we cleared out our growing beds, small tubers were often over looked and left. The growing menium was heaped up and sold off as a garden mulch. We found little tubers would grow up through 12 inches of cover to poke their heads out into the sunlight.
When we grew commercially, the tubers recieved every requirement, fertilisation, watering, spraying were done to a regulated preocedure. However, we planted tubers over the graves of our much loved pets, initially, they received the correct fertilisation but as the plot was in our home garden, that was it, watering only came as the rains descended, no spraying, no more fertillizing and they bloom bountifully, although the stem length was much shorter.
It seems to me, that if you take notes of what fertilizer you give during the growing season and keep up a watering regime which gives enough to keep them growing on, all should come right. Please do not give up on these lovely flowers, they brighten the garden and brighten your home when you cut them and bring them inside.
ferrymead, you answered the question I've had about why I lost some to rot last year. We had a drought, and try as I did, I could'nt keep them moist enough. Well, just moist enough to rot. But I've got more ordered for this year!
Has anyone been following the peroxide discussions? I'm wondering if callas in pots would benefit from this. It's suppose to add oxygen to the roots and prevent root rot from overwatering. May not be too practical during our summers, buy maybe an application once a week would help. Any opinions?
Also, I use Miracle Grow with fertilizer for my potted plants. Do you think this would be overdoing it for callas?
Thanks everyone! They didn't overwinter in my zone, but I had them planted in a very moist shady location. They probably rotted over the winter. Now, I just grow them in pots and drag them in for a winter nap. Otherwise, I don't do anything to the rhizomes before planting them in new soil each year.
Shirley, I love your "Plum Crazy". Where did you get it?? I don't seem to have a problem growing callas here and they come back every year - I would like to try that one though.
From asking around, I'm beginning to think it was the supplier rather than my cultivation that was my problem...I'm going to try again, I think, just once more....
I was just browsing Easy to Grow Bulbs and read their instructions for growing Calla Lilies. They mention something I haven't seen before and that might make a huge difference in success. They state:
"Dig holes and plant the callas shallowly, so the tops of the tubers are exposed".
Everywhere else, the instructions state "2" deep". For a tuber that rots so easily, this makes a lot of sense to me. Think about how Iris and Amaryllis are planted.
Also, after our previous discussion above, i was planning to amend my potting mix by adding in some sand. ETGB also states:
"Almost any commercially available potting medium will work fine."
Again, with planting the rhizomes (or are they tubers) more shallow, Im inclined to believe that statement. I'm only growing two calla lilies this summer, and I believe I'll try this method and see what happens.
Beaker, planting the tubers shallowly is a new one to me. It will be intersting to find how it works out for you, don't forget to give us an update.
e-Bay usually has a lot of Calla Lilies to offer.
beaker so funny you should mention that. when I read those instructions I called Jon and asked him if that was a typo. He said no. so, I planted barely beneath ground as he said and they grew fine. I also planted some others about 2" and they grew fine.
I bought pink and Flame callas from Flowersare4me on ebay. was satisfied, the bulbs looked good, shipped promptly and they're growing fine.
Our summers tend to be very hot & dry. The clay ground dries up & cracks unless it's well mulched. Tough on anything with wide leaves.
Shirley I love all of those! Very nice shapes as well.
I have grown calla lilys for a few years, I have Z. albomaculata, Cameo, which does go a deep apricot flushed red colour but didn't flower last year, Mr Martin, bought a Schwarzwalder for a fortune, but it was like dry cork and no good! Had Rhemanni a few years ago but it rotted, not so hardy as the others.
This year I have bought Gem Lavender, Crystal Blush, Black Forest. We don't get many here but it seems to be picking up a bit. Also bought some seed of Z. jucunda. I have Z. x aethiopica Pink Mist which did very well and is more reliable, got some seed and have 4 germinated from a 1st lot I sowed.
I use my trusty mix of Moss peat compost, leafy compost and gritty river soil/leaves. I overwinter them in a cold greenhouse, they are quite deep in their pots, a good 4", they have seated themselves lower when renewing
I bought one a couple of years ago already growing and reduced, it flowered last year again after recovering and a pot on, I think I found the name but not sure if it is Majestic Red, perhaps someone will recognise it. it grew very strong and had 3 flowers.
Z. albomaculata, which is supposed to be quite hardy
