Anyone have a purple calla lily, or one called Anneke?

I am over the top for purple, and I just love callas, but have only one. I would like many more, but the budget doesn't go along with what I want, so... I'm only getting one (well, maybe two).

American Meadows has this one. Has anyone had any experience with it?
http://americanmeadows.com/Bulb_detail.cfm?itemid=741

Thank you.

I bought that same one from American Meadows last year and was very disappointed. I love purple too and this one was all over ebay at the time so I got it. I only had one bloom on it and it was very pale so I did a little research. I found this place that sells cut callas and they had a picture of Anneke. Here's the link... http://www.lakesidecallas.com/Purple%20Calla%20Lilies.htm . Not at all the color advertised on the website or package at American Meadows. Mine was even paler and more faded than that. I was so disappointed! I can't find my picture of it, but it wasn't anything close to their picture. Sorry for being the bearer of bad news :(.

Thank you, princessyfs. I would rather know before I buy it, which is why I asked. The photo on the AM website is so deep! :-)

Where's Kenton, Janet, and Robert? They could advise you on purple callas. I'm wanting all the strong colored varieties I can get my hands on! Purples, reds, oranges, and hot pinks, but you sure can't trust the pics you see. Have you seen the royal blue calla on ebay?! There's a lengthy thread going on callas you'd enjoy. I know well the pain of dial up, so I'll direct calla folks over here to continue and give you some guidance. Parks is offering some nice colors; I've had pretty good luck with their bulbs in the past and the collections are fairly reasonable. Aaagg, so many choices to make at this time of year! I want it all!
Neal

Thanks, Neal - dial up is why I didn't spend a lot of time on the threads (aren't there two now?) for callas. I want strong colors, too. I think they are invasive in my neck of the woods, so I'll grow all mine in containers (plus, if I have to leave, I can take them with me), but I won't be going too crazy with growing very many.

I had been thinking of doing a co-op for callas from Blooming Bulb. If they could arrive at the same time as the glads and lilies, everyone could save on shipping, though BB isn't offering free shipping on these.
http://www.bloomingbulb.com/CartBulbs.asp?Category=6&bulbs=Callas&parent=2425

Ooohh, those are some good deals considering bulk buying. I think the Z.aethiopica varieties are the aggressive growers there. Gosh, its hard for me to imagine callas running rampant! What a beautiful sight! But I do understand thinking something is beautiful till it becomes a troublesome thug. Any new ones I get will go in containers too. They will be fun bright spots in the tropical garden. I'd like to use big pots with at least 5 or 6 callas and some trailing annuals with them. Thats the bad thing about the cool, new varieties- I don't just want 1, and can't afford the quantities that fit into my "minds eye". I'm getting better about propagating and being patient though.

I can vouch for those I grow, for strength of colour. I see they have Majestic Red and Cameo, their colours are close.

If you're looking for purple, Picasso does have a nice purple centre with a white edge. I was interested in Anneke too, but knew their colours were fixed.

Other dark ones are Black Forest or Schwarzwalder, nearly black with a maroon colour edge. Black Star is another with a black edge to the leaves, these are usually very expensive. I paid a lot for one once and it was cork. Kenton has grown Black Star.

I would say these colours are fairly true too

http://www.callalilyshop.pacificcallas.com/allvarieties.htm

http://www.midcitynursery.com/Bulbs/callas.htm

I think you have all seen my pics of Majestic Red and Cameo. I can post them again if you wish. Ferrymead is a grower in New Zealand, her husband gave a definite ID on my Majestic Red.

On the lakesidecallas site you can select pics by colour.

I would say Brent & becky's colours are very close to true

http://www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com/summer/search/listgenus.php?id=140

Thank you, Wallaby. I'd be happy to see those photos on this shorter thread. :-)
So Neal, are you saying you might be interested in co-oping some callas?
hmmm.....

Well, I'm certainly easily enabled, LOL. Pretty good enabler too, hehehe. So, ok, you talked me in to it, lol. I could get a lot more for the $, so yeah, I'd definitely be interested. Always trying to curb the plant gluttony, but usually fail. Do you feel like you just set up a wet bar at an AA meeting? LOL

Neal you are so easily led to the bar!

OK, Majestic Red when it is young is still a sort of burgundy red, but it turned bright red later and remained that way, right until it rotted back with seeds. I'm told in years of heavy pollen set it does that.

I'd be interested in a few too. I have quite a few that I got last year and I would totally reccommend Schwarzwalder, Black Pearl, Maroon Sensation and Black Star if you're looking for dark. They performed excellently for me. Here's my Maroon Sensation from last year, I got it at American Meadows....

Now that Maroon Sensation is close to a purple!

Majestic Red when turned to a very red

Cameo, it has a large and wider spathe.

ah...then maybe a query thread?
I have to think about this a bit more...but it would be easy to just pack up a few more into what I'm already shipping.
Dogs and plants are all I spend money on. I'd rather eat beans and rice than go without gardening and flowers.
:-)

This one looks good-

http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/Detail/06321.html

R.

Majestic Red is just what I was hoping! Perfect bright red. And OMG, Edge of Night is gorgeous!

Don't feel bad Laura, you fit in so well around here, lol. I shop almost exclusively at Goodwill to afford my 'habit'.

Neal, I wonder where that red colour came from in the world of species callas!

Edge of Night is aka Black Star, I saw it on offer in 2005 I think, not since, will have to watch ebay!

:-)
I wish we had a Goodwill around here. There's only one decent thrift store down on the coast, and it's not a Goodwill. There is a difference!

You'll need to wait until their website reopens for 2007, but Brent and Becky's Bulbs is a great source for high quality bulbs.
http://www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com/

Oooohhhh! Did someone say Calla Lily co-op? I've seen six or seven on this thread I need!

lol
"need"
:-)
gemini_sage is on the hunt for a good supplier.

Co-op, co-op, co-op!

And by that that I mean wholesale, of course. The prices that people can shamelessly ask these days.......

January is when most sources get their listings on line, so I'll be scouring. I'm very cheap, hehehe, as well as particular, so its always a fun quest!

Here's one place that looks good called Oregon Coastal Flowers, but it is'nt listed in the Watchdog. I like to have some consumer feedback before making any kind of bulk purchase, but I'll see if I can hunt something down. The site is sort of irritating because you have to put stuff in your cart to see the price. That was ok, because I did a mock order just to see what kind of deals we could get. Looks like they're 50 for $77.50 across the board, except for Hot Chocolate, which is only sold at retail price. 50 each of 8 varieties comes to $620.00+ shipping $110.00= $730.00 and comes out to $1.83 each. Shipping to each participant would be extra, but negligible considering the great price.

Does anyone have any experience with this company?

http://www.flowersbulbs.com/index.php

This place does have only a few feedback comments on the Watchdog, but they are glowing. Its Pacific Callas, and I've emailed them to ask about wholesale pricing for a cooperative purchase.

http://callalilyshop.pacificcallas.com/index.htm

Go, Neal!
:-)

I think I got some of those from flowersbulbs from an ebay seller last year. She was listing varities I hadn't seen before so I scoured the web to find a good price and this was the only place selling them and she had listed quite a few of the varities they had available. I wondered if that's where she got them, they looked good when I got them, but I had bought them so late in the season that only a couple bloomed. All put up foliage. They were pretty though, Sunrise and Neroli. Oh, and lilac mist also bloomed from the bunch I got from her.

At those prices its likely people to buy and resell at competitive prices. Its nice buying direct from a grower and cutting out the middle man. Seems like it would also take out some of the steps that lead to mislabled bulbs.

Gemini sage: I have ordered from Pacific Callas and was very happy with them. They are not the same as Oregon Coastal Growers that I know of. Pacific is in California.
Oregon Coastal, also known as Flowersbulbs.com is in Oregon. I was going to order from them, but they do not ship until Feb. I was a little to impatient to wait that long, so ended up ordering from Pacific.
There is also a company in DG watchdog called Flowerbulb.com, which doesn't seem to have a very good reputation. They are not the same as Oregon Coastal and are in a different state.

edited: oops! forgot a word.

This message was edited Jan 3, 2007 6:47 PM

I ran in to Flowerbulb.com and got warning flags when browsing the site. I did'nt think Oregon Coastal and Pacific Callas were the same, they just both look promising. But flowerbulb.com and flowerbulbs.com were a little confusing. It seemed to me the less reputable of the 2 is trying to imitate their competition and confuse people. The home pages look similar.

I have bought from Pacific Callas in the past and have always been very pleased with their bulbs. Don't believe DG has had a Calla Lily Co-op before. Sounds like a great possibility!

Calla Lily, "Black Forest"

Calla, "Midnight Eclipse"

Calla, "Plum Crazy"

Beautiful purples Shirley! And thanks for sharing your experience with Pacific; hope they answer my email soon :)

All I can say from afar is, why don't we have large suppliers here like you have!!! Great prices too!

Love the selection at flowersbulbs!

Do tell Robert, what are your favs?

Great photos - I really like the Black Forest.

Wallaby, can these be sent to you?

wpaws, they can if they are misnamed! Seeds allowed, ornaments etc.

I prefer that flowersbulbs selection to to the other one, not that they have all that much selection.

Look at Sande's callas:
http://www.sandegroup.nl/zantcontent.html

Would rather have to pick a favorites list from them, even though it would be *much* harder to do.

As far as flowersbulbs, I'm favoring:

Hot Chocolate, Black Magic, Cameo, Firelight, Hazel Marie, Hot Shot, Majestic Red, Mago and Neroli.

From Pacific:

From Black Forest to the end of the list, prolly.

Robert.