Looking for Gene's Giant Calla Lily

Hi All,
I don't live in California, but I'm looking for a calla lily that San Marcos Growers sell, an aethiopica variety called Gene's Giant.
I grow and collect Callas, and that one is on my list! If anyone can help me find one, or trade, or sell me one, I'd greatly apreciate it.
Thank you!
Susan

I went and looked at the description on SM's website, and I suspect that this plant which is available from Kartuz may be the same plant, or at least very similar. http://www.kartuz.com/p/80012/Zantedeschia+aethiopica+Hercules.html Kartuz does mail order so you can for sure get one from there if nobody has the other one--their plants are small, but my other callas grow pretty quick so I don't think you'll have to wait too long for flowers.

Thanks for checking, but it's not the same as Hercules. Did you know there are about 40 varieties of the white Aethiopica Calla lily??? Crazy, they probably all look very much the same! It's just my obsessive/compulsive nature that makes me want to collect them ALL! hee hee hee (maniacal laughter)
Susan

On the SM website there is a list of mail order suppliers. The first one says that if they don't have the plant they will special order it for you
http://www.smgrowers.com/purchase/weborder.asp
It's worth a try. They also have a list of retail nurseries.

The San Marcos site said they only ship within California, so I tried Plant Safari. Hopefully I'll hear back from them. But if any California people see it in a nursery, please think of me!
susan

I wouldn't hold your breath about hearing from Plant Safari...I placed an order with them in July and have yet to get anything...read my comment on them in Garden Watchdog if you want more details. They didn't charge my credit card or anything so I'm not upset with them, but there's something funny going on there. http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/3729/

From reading SM's description of this one and Kartuz's description of Hercules, I really think you could put the two side by side and probably not be able to tell a difference. And given how SM says they found theirs, it's not clear to me that it's not another already existing variety of calla--sounds like they found it and gave it a name, but who's to say it wasn't really Hercules or some other existing giant calla cultivar and they just didn't know which it was so they gave it their own name. I definitely know how you feel about wanting to collect all the different ones, I have a couple genera that I collect extensively as well, but I'm not convinced from SM's description that this is really a unique cultivar.

Thanks for the heads up ecrane. I've also emailed Plant Delights in the past and gotten no response.

As far as a new cultivar, well, that is sometimes how they are found, isn't it? You grow 100 of the same plant and one ends up different. A few years ago I ordered 100 or 200 white callas (the small kind) to grow for my niece's wedding (they bloomed the week after the wedding, of course- lol, sob!). Anyhow, out of all those bulb I had 3 that were a very nice rosy color. Other rose varieties I've seen have been more pointy flowers, these are very round. So I thought I came up with a new variety, don't know what to do with them yet, but I'm thrilled about that.

As I said, there are 40 or more Aethiopica varieties, and I'd guess probably 99% of them look the same side by side. Personally, I've grown Hercules for years, and it has never reached those 6 ft plants you've seen described. I still like having it, though.

Well, I was just hoping someone could help me out.
PS. Which genera do you collect?
Susan

Don't give up on finding it yet--someone may come along who has it still. I have to say though, at least at the nurseries I go to, I've seen lots of stuff from SM but never any of their callas. So those could be ones that if you want them even out here in CA you have to have a nursery special order them for you.

I collect several things...Grevillea, Buddleia, Salvia, Hibiscus (only rosa-sinensis cultivars), Cestrum, Bauhinia. Which genus I'm most interested in at any given moment tends to change from time to time, and for most of them I tend to be attracted to the rarer species rather than the ones everyone has (like with the Buddleias...I have very few B. davidii cultivars, mostly I have the other Buddleia species)

That's funny- I don't have ONE of those plants! ha ha.
We do have the wild Salvia in the neighborhood- the red kind. Or am I thinking of another plant?
This is it...

I could be wrong but I don't think that's a salvia--it looks more like one of the red Lobelia species to me. But I'd need to see more of the plant to be sure.

Oops, I think you're right. I knew it was one or the other... d'oh!

I have this large calla with spotted leaves, no idea where it came from, it just showed up bout 4 years ago.

it's probably about 5 ft tall, nice big leaves, big blooms, tough as nails.

That's sure a beauty Sue. When callas love it here they REALLY love it. :-)

That is a beautiful plant!