Who has some Calla lilies to show us?

knif~

Love those rosy tones over the gold.

wallaby, The retaining wall catches a lot of leaves from trees above and behind it, so they are continually decomposing and providing good rich humus. But that's got to be awfully acid. What ph do callas prefer?

woodspirit, I have acid soil, and leaves I believe make it more alkaine, at least that is what I read somewhere I'm sure. Plants love the soil texture and micro nutrients and beneficial fungi that it provides.

My leaves are mainly horse chestnut, I don't think it matters which sort they are, but they do like lots of it. It helps to keep the soil moist but very open, they like to be very free draining. If you have allowed your bulbs to dry over winter that may have affected them too, some don't like to be dry, as they say 'drainage is everything' and bulbs are able to tolerate a lot more cold in this type of medium.

Janet, you are so right about the leaf compost. I've been amazed this year at the difference I've seen; I mulched everything late last fall/ early winter with chopped leaves and now its all black worm castings. This is the best boost to earthworm activity I've seen!

Woodspirit, I think its likely they'll be hardy for you. I know 3 people in my zone who have overwintered them in the ground for over 3 years now. One of those people has soggy soil that does'nt drain well, so sounds like they should be happy where the cardinal lobelia is doing so well.

I'm trying a few outside this year too. Some pink Z.rehmanii(or something like that, lol) are residing in a well drained, organic, sandy loam. And some Z.aethiopica are in a wet area with rich soil. Those are at the base of a hill that has several little springs that keep the whole area mossy and damp.

I'm also hoping there are several corms of a yellow with a dark throat and spotted leaves that I got from buggycrazy. They went dormant and when digging around looking for them I only found 4 out of 10 of them. They were small bulbs I got last fall and stored till spring. The leaves were lovely, so I'm hoping they did'nt rot. I did use some slow release fertilizer- could that have had something to do with it?

It's possibly one of the causes Neal, there was an linked article on the first thread about that. Small bulbs put straight in the ground may be another reason, as we know when they grow these commercially they are mostly grown in the wrong sort of medium for quick results.

I usually like to grow bulbs like this under controlled conditions for a start, they usually grow but if they didn't make new bulbs in a good growing medium then I think they stand less chance. Any newly made bulbs then are best given time to mature, only *then* do I think they stand a good chance of transplanting to the ground.

A lengthy process perhaps, but worth the time if you do end up with bulbs/corms able to withstand more difficult conditions. Some people may just be able to put them in the ground and be lucky, but as I said before I believe a lot has to do with different weather conditions as well as a healthy growing medium.

I'm working my way up towards trying them in the ground, when I feel they have reached a good size, and I have enough to keep some in a pot for backup. That point has been reached this year really, so if the ground space is available next year then here goes, in the ground they go!

Well, these were buggycrazy-small, and her bulbs are known for being huge. So these were 10-12cm I would guess. You'll soon see as one is on its way to you, lol! I'm not familiar with this variety either, so they may be small for the variety.

I am using your recommended potting mix (peat,compost,coarse sand) for the calla babies (Pink Mist and albomaculata) and they are very happy. I think you are quite right about controlling the environment, and I love watching the process up close. You do realize you are a bad influence on me! Its not even spring, and propagation is already taking over the house, lol.

Somehow I never caught up with this thread until now. The photos of the different callas are just lovely! I only have a few types; two of the white (standard and a larger variety), and a few of the yellow, purple, and my favorite, 'Flame'.

I thought you folks would enjoy this double-petaled 'Flame', that I took back in the spring. My white callas have thrown out a few doubles, but this was the first one I'd seen on a colored calla.

Neal,
Did the pink ones I sent you do well? I remember one of our first trades was for my callas, I sent the pink and some white. They are very similar to your post above of the pink....just curious...isn't it funny how we seldom see our trades in other peoples gardens...it would so cool to see our "babies" blooming in other parts of the country and even in other countries! Calla are very easy to grow from seed too...I have sent so many seed to others and have moved many little seedlings around! I love some of the ones posted above, some of the colors are just out of this world!

WOW, that is a beautiful picture of FLAME!!! Thanks for sharing. I just found this thread also..I love calla!

Except for my potted ones (and Picasso and 'Black Star') I'm leaving all the Callas in the ground this winter. Adapt or die, kids.

But the good old calla has not gone forgotten in my mind, even when I'm goofing around with red-clay ceramics.

Very impressive! You are sooo talented! I think the large white ones may be my favorite still....I love the colors too, but the white are just so REGAL!

Callas do like a lot of water, don't they? I think I heard they could even take boggy conditions.

Oh so glad this thread pop up again, some time ago I was going to post a photo :o))
This is my calla, have had it for tree-four years as is blooming for the first time.
Was recommended to give some fertilizer and it worked :o))

James good job there, what a talent!


Whent crazy and took lots of photos, all my friends were so glad when they heard it was blooming.
I guees I mentioned once or twice LOL
Zantedeschia aethiopica, my ultimate favourite flower and plant.
I like the light effect on these ones

One more

JanetS, I so loved that gorgeous pink one from your garden; it had 4 blooms last year and won my heart. Then, I'm grieved to say, it (and my Z.albomaculatas) quite suddenly rotted. Our summer turned very dry last year and both varieties rotted after I started watering regularly. Someone thought perhaps the dry weather had triggered them to start going dormant, then my watering caused them to rot. If you ever have extras of that beauty again I'd love to trade for more.

Lovely, Kenton!

I will send you more!
JanetS

gemini~

I lost my "Solar Flare" to sudden death-rot this summer. Don't know what happened, but since they were pot grown, mine would go too dry every now and then. Maybe the same thing happened with them.

I did manage to save two tiny pieces, and they are ready to go already, really only had a few weeks rest. The eyes are showing bright green growth, maybe an eighth of an inch exposed. A brief rest is all they need from what I read, but not this short a rest. I'm going to try to hold them off for a bit if possible.

jkom51~

Nice double spathe!

Robert.

Oh goody goody! Thanks Janet! The blooms looked like porcelain on that gem.

Robert, what kind of fertilizer did you use on the sudden death-rot plants? When I had the problem last year I had only used some bone meal and blood meal worked into the soil as fertilizer.

I had been using a popular blue-appearing 20-20-20 soluble, :-) , but not every week and then at half or quarter strength. Couldn't tell you exactly when the affected plant "went south", but it was during the hottest part of summer. I pretty much treated all my potted callas the same and this was the only one that I had any problem with.

I didn't notice the plant showing the usual earmarks of approaching dormancy--fading or yellowing leaves--it came about quite suddenly and proceeded rapidly.

I had lost most of a 'Red Lion' Hippeastrum clump at some point earlier (I think) too. I had used an insecticide-fungicide spray several times, so perhaps if it was effective, the rot was a bacterial one. The Hippi, of, course was in full leaf and growing, which might indicate that the conditions for the "infection" were the same as the Zant was under. I just don't remember the timeline.

My plants were also out in relative open--at the edge of a flowering crab, but mostly not under the tree itself, so they may have collected too much rainfall and the damp surface and staying too moist on the soil surface and in the pot, might have contributed. The Hippi was clear of the tree, that's for sure.

Some small potted Hostas started to get some fungus showing on the surface down in the leaves--not sure if it was "Southern Blight" or not. Lost only one small plant, but I could see gray-white mycellia (sp?) around the crown. Took quick action and no others were lost. Part of the problem there was having lawn grasses growing over the pots and plants--holding too much moisture. I allowed the grass to cover the plants because in the field of their native lands, this occurs naturally and is one way a Hosta that might prefer less sun gets it's in a full sun setting.

Robert.

Robert, that sounds exactly how mine rotted last year. One day standing up looking perky, the next laying on the ground. At first I thought they had just gotten broken or blown over, but the crown was brown and slimy.

How long have your 'Solar Flare' babies been resting? I received some little Z.albomaculata corms (about 3/4"diameter) this summer and let them rest a couple of months. I potted them when I noticed they had pips. Now they're under lights looking happy.

gemini~

Maybe a month. They were showing the green "pips" almost as soon as I dried them off!

I'd say they are ready to pot up now, the pips are still enlarging, so it seems to be time.

Yeppers to the mush. Even after I unpotted them and scraped away the mushy parts (most of the large bulb mass) I'd check in a day or two and more had turned to mush.

All I could save was two tiny pieces, maybe a cubic half-inch in size. Just out of curiosity to see how they'll do when I start them back--I'll also be watching to see if the funk returns and how it looks. I went into EMS overdrive before and didn't take time to see details of the invader--none that caught my eye anyway--just a lot of mush.

Robert.

jkom, that Flame is making me jealous!

zest, you did well to get the Z aethiopica to flower, I have found that one difficult. Mine is the hardier Crowborough but it just dwindled in the ground so I dug it up and found lots of small bulbs. I'm growing them in pots and overwintering in the greenhouse, they are getting bigger but I think they need to be kept in growth to flower well. I did get a couple of small flowers once before it dwindled.


Neal, you surely meant a good influence! What would you do if you couldn't garden during the winter? The callas are normally not bigger than 10cm, that is quite a big one, and the younger ones do flower better. Oh if I'm getting one I had better be good with it!

I'm surprised to read about letting the bulbs dry off in the growing season, I thought they should be kept in growth and let to go dormant for winter, even then I believe they are best kept moist. I think new bulbs are prone to mushing, you just have to hope they make new bulbs to grow on. My Cameo did that, but I only discovered it after the first winter which I believe was very cold, so it could have been the cold weather and it was it's first year over wintering. the pot was then also smaller as it hadn't multiplied to be in a bigger pot, but it did make 4 new bulbs, 3 of which had rotted with the mother bulb. I was lucky to have one small sound white fleshy bulb, and that is the one which has matured now to that magnificent plant.

K, you are calla lily potty.

Awesome pictures, Zest.

Thanks JamesCo and Wallaby ;o))

Besides giving the calla fertilizer, I kept it very moist instead og letting it dry up a little bit.
The other thing was that it was placed it in direct sun, always thought it was a shade loving plant?
However I do keep it dorment in the winter, I have no space for it.
A shame really, as it has beautiful leaves.

Looking more natural

Oh zest, that last picture....what a beauty!

Robert.

It has lovely crumply folds! In your first pic the spadix looks like a light bulb all lit up.

I think sun in a colder climate is necessary, that is recommended here but I've never had a sunny spot for mine. In many colder zones they have very hot summers, so some shade would then be an advantage. The hot year this year possibly helped too, along with a stage of maturity and feeding, and keeping it wet.

I was looking at the leaves on mine today, they are growing well just now and I was thinking it is a shame to let them die back. Perhaps I could fit just one pot in the house??? No frosts forecast for the next 10 days at least, time to organise.

We had our first light frost last night and more expected tonight. Just below freezing.

I have both my aethiopica cultivars indoors in a mostly northerly exposure- no direct light, but both are still looking good. 'Green Goddess' is putting out another bloom; this one with more green markings than before and it looks like the normally white portions may go green as well due to the poor light.

New leaves coming on both.

Robert.

This year I'm experimenting with a few of my aethiopicas. A few will stay in the ground this winter, well mulched. Tammy has overwintered them outdoors in zone6 PA, so I'm hopeful. We've had several nights of hard frost now and all the Colocosias and Cannas are black rags,but the aethiopicas are still green and perky.

Now that I've decided to give these a try, can you tell me when is the best time to order and plant these. I tried ordering online but can't get them right now. thanks!

betterbloom~

Callas are generally available in spring or sold with the "summer flowering" bulbs. Lots of bulb distributors divide their selection in half like that . Fall planted and spring planted.

You'll be able to find all you need after the first of the year.

Robert.

Here's a picture of the whole plant that I posted flowers of a while ago. Just love it.

Sue

That is superb! 10 spathes, all so well arranged, it looks to be a large plant. Not many sell them that big. I was trying to get up some pics to see if I could ID it, computer running slow today!

Roll on next calla growing season!

So I guess I'm a little late on planting callas. I guess that's one I won't have to worry about killing this year, haha! I start looking first of the year and just admire your beautiful ones in the mean time. Thanks for the info.

betterbloom~

Found these two aethiopicas avilable now, if you can't wait:

http://www.marketworks.com/storefrontprofiles/deluxeSFshop.aspx?sfid=124287&c=105330

Robert.

Raydio: thank you, thank you! I went right to it and ordered a couple of the green goddess..can't wait, I've already got a shady place in my new garden for them.

Coming to the finale, my 'Majestic Red' is still majestic, the first spathe is stuffed full of seeds (hopefully) and with the weather holding out it might get to mature fully this year. The second spathe has some but not as many, and they still have much of that amazing colour! The plant is starting to yellow.

The pair

Gem Lavender I found most of the stems to seed heads had died off, still two later ones holding up. It looks to have made a fair amount of seed, the spathes are smaller on this. I will leave them in their seed flesh to dry off completely, I find they germinate well in June the following year if I leave them in those on top of the pot perhaps with a little compost to just cover. When they start to germinate they can be potted up separately.

wallaby, thanks for the impromptu instructions on starting these. I collected a seed head but haven't done anything with it yet. Do you keep your pot in the greenhouse or out in the weather?

Majestic and SO Red!!

Beautiful!