Calla lilies...sun or shade?

DMJ...are you desiring cuttings?...can certainly send you a mess of those LOL I know we talked about that a while back but hey I have had a few weekends and numerous hours in the sun....my brain is flaking away with the skin on my back...my poor tattoo'd angel thinks she's in hades at this point....

Deb, you know I'm not that up on anything...lol! You are probably right. PDN is 7b and their plants were probably 2-3 weeks ahead of mine...but we're west of them and it seems a little cooler in this valley (I will not admit that in the summer) and lots of things come up slower. My cannas are just crawling out also.

No Rednyr--they have to be well rooted to make it down here. We are having a cold front move thru Friday am, high expected 80F (I'll get back out my mittens). It's been between 85-90 for about 3-4 weeks now; except for a cool front last weekend which basically just cut the humidity level. Which makes it seem 10 degrees cooler here.

Tropic--I know I had 2 pots in the garage this winter, one didn't make it and the other came up real early. All the rest are in the ground and have been slow to re-emerge but its been really dry this spring (expecting rain tonight--yeah!). My ginger Kaempfera 'Grande' just emerged and bloomed yesterday--I thought it was a goner (its in the PlantFiles forum from yesterday).

I'll take ya'll some pictures of my leaves--both spotted and solid tomorrow. It's definitely dark thirty here now.

for some reason I expected the ones in the GH to bloom over winter but mine didn't...they weren't huge well established ones.

I forgot to mention this. I thought I was rescuing some callas from the death rack at Lowe's. There was some foliage that looked pretty burnt and they were really soaked. I could feel tubers so I got them. When I pulled them out to plant them they had small bulbets that were fine with the leaves but the main big calla bulbs were totally rotten.....they must have watered the heck out of those things to make that happen

finally I have two of my kaempferias coming up in the GH...I feel like they take forever

A lot of bulb species are like that Trop--never give up on a bulb that doesn't re-emerge, always give it another year. More so true with true bulbs and corms than rhizomes....

which Kaempferia's do you have?

The calla's that went south in the garage in a pot was really strange--there was absolutely nothing in there but really good potting soil. not a trace of a full pot of calla's--oddest thing I ever saw. usually you find some rotten somewhat identifiable lump of ex-bulb material--lol--perhaps they were abducted.

could have been a mouse or something?

on kaemperias...hmmm...I hate to talk about the ones I'm not seeing grow right now, but it's two silver spots that are up. I hopefully still have gilbertii, pulchra, rotunda 'raven', and bicolor. I love kaempferias but I have to winter them over in the GH. I hate that I killed the jungle gold I had....

no mice in the garage...don't scare me like that, its an attached garage--lol

totally missing calla bulbs--they were in promix too--another unsolved bulb mystery to add to a long string of unsolved bulb mysteries

I've killed plenty of stuff in promix, but I probably shouldn't brag

callas do pretty much shrivel to nothing fast if they're too sry...but you would see something

might want to set a few traps out just in case....lol

I don't do everything in promix--just the good stuff ;)

I don't think I'll set traps, I'll probably land in them myself with my luck--that's the only thing I can remember ever seeing nothing left on, except for seedlings sometimes

I've killed an embarrassingly lot of things in pro-mix, cheap potting soil, the ground....you name, I've killed it.

any serious bulb grower from seed that tells you otherwise is lying to ya ;)

the ghosts of past plant deaths stalk me like a boring lover....

speaking of boring--here's my tribute to Dr Suess (you have been warned! boring verse and boring pictures--only one bloom, so you can feel better about only seeing spots too)

Here's spots in pots--Red Sox

no spot pink, I believe it needs more sun, whatcha think?

in the ground, we have spots
supposed to be white, but so far--not

I love aroids...callas are so underrated. just the leaves even are so lush

the pink one looks great to me..I don't know all these, which one is that one? and the last one with the really angular leaves?

sorry so many questions, I'm trying to escape the outlaws

I know the feeling Tropic--

The no spot pink one is 'Rubylite Rose':
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/153205/

The last one with the angular leaves is white albo:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/41031/

Red Sox:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/158039/

Ive also got a 'Majestic Red' and an 'Amethyst' just now emerging...

by the way Tropic, we had a little wind storm with a little rain last night and I've got a ginger that I should have had a better tag on--this is what I can still read:
"E?LECCOSTUS ARABICUS VARIEGATEA"
can you help this poor soul interpret her own handwriting so I can type up a readable laser tag for my new friend? =)

do you love it? lol, please tell me you do, it's one of my very favorite gingers although I've never seen a bloom. it is 'Costus Arabicus Variegated'--I think is the best name, it went under amazonicus forever, and for some reason I thought it was one of the costus that was changed to cheilocostus

I didn't get it here but here's some information on it (this is a great source for sweet gingers, btw) http://www.gingerlandtropicals.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=33

If it blooms for you I'd love to see pictures

I love all my new friends! =)

That's why it distressed me so (and its my fault, I could kick myself in the butt for not getting a "proper" label on it sooner) that I could only read part of the name. I'm off to label it now.

Here's another of my new friends, this is the first to actually be settled into his new home. I think he/she will look delightful with the caladiums underfoot. I think you can even read its tag.

We bought some yellow calla lilies at Lowes and put them in a bed on the North side of the house with morning sun and good topsoil. We have it irrigated and they seem to be getting sufficient water. But now two of the four callas are experiencing rot. The flowered stems are falling over and the stems are rotted. I called a nursery and they said they might not be getting enough sun. Anyone else seen this symptom? Other plans are doing well in the same bed.

while out weeding I noticed another of the short purple calla's is gallantly trying to nudge its way through the thick mulch.

I keep mine moist but they are all in well draining locations.

that gageana looks really good....you'll start getting pups like crazy in no time

doyle, It wouldn't surprise me if they were rotten when you bought them. I think Lowe's somehow rots their callas--the ones I got from the clearnace that were rotted aren't looking good so far despite my efforts to save them

I would really love to find a 'Solar Flare' that would persist (return) after one year...I've tried several and love the color of the bloom.

I've not grown that one...not even sure I've seen it....

It's just a yellow one, fairly common:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/106490/

=)
I just like the brighter colors on calla's or white best

pretty, all my yellow callas I got last fall, so first year for blooms I hope

I like the intense ones also