Help! Why won't my calla lilies bloom...ever?!

Hi guys!

I have this huge clump of calla lilies on the shady side of my front yard, and I've NEVER seen them bloom! They were already there when I bought my house and it seems to be a pretty mature clump (about 3 x 3).
Do they need dividing? Fertilizing? (I tried bloom booster but no results). or...??
Please help!

Rob

Looks like it is time to divide.....

I suspected that but didn't quite know if that was the case!
Wow, stunning bromeliads! What are they?

When you divide, make sure to approach the clump from a few inches away from the base of the outer plants. This way you will avoid injuring the corms. Just a little tip from someone who sliced through a couple one year!

Lucky you, having so many callas to spread around. I just bought three corms (tubers? bulbs?) this year and they are only producing foliage at this point. Mine are Calla aethiopica, so are evergreen. I like that.

This message was edited Dec 31, 2008 11:51 AM

Mine are evergreen too..but that's pretty much all I know! Is it correct to assume over here in So Cal I should transplant my divisions to shady spots?

And how about fertilizing?

Thanks!

Your summers probably aren't quite as hot as mine, but mine are definitely happier in the shade--they can take a little morning sun but the ones that I had in an area that got slightly more sun than that fried. I have some that are completely shaded (it's bright shade, but they never get direct sun) and they do great there. Mine are the plain old white ones--I vaguely remember reading in another thread that there is something different about the conditions that the colored ones like. I also never fertilize mine--they grow like crazy without it so I'd hate to see what they'd do if I actually took care of them! LOL

Rob, yours should bloom every spring/early summer. Do you let them get dry over the summer months?

Dale, you are torturing me with those bromeliads, lol! What are they, I've been trying to add some to my garden lately...
Ecrane, we get pretty hot summers too, so I'll find a shady spot for the divisions...never let then dry over the summer..should I? They look a little yellow but it might be the season....

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

Yes, let them go dry for the summer.

Rhizomes, FYI.

If you have the Zantedeschia aethiopica you *can* let them go dry over the summer, but they are equally happy to have water and will still produce flowers if they get enough phosphorus (bone meal being the preferred organic amendment at planting). This is just based on Southern California experience (Zone 23, Hollywood Hills). Here in Pasadena we shall see!

I keep watering mine all summer--I don't water them a ton but I do water them once a week along with the rest of the garden. That keeps them mostly green unless we've had a terrible heat wave (we usually have at least one heat wave every year where we hit 105-110 for a few days and that tends to make them a bit unhappy) but they won't typically bloom during the summer here even if I keep them watered.

I have tried callas here (Zantedeschia aethiopica). They never bloom here, just a big mass of evergreen foliage. I finally dug them up and tossed them.

Summer callas (Zantedeschia rehmannii and hybrids) bloom for about 2 days - pitiful!

We are just too warm for flower production with them.

Amaryllis (Hippeastrum) do very well here>

Seems I need to try some bonemeal too then! Yesterday I divided the huge clump and planted tubers all over my sideyard....I spread the tubers in areas that get different amounts of light to test it a bit...

Dale I have the same Hippeastrum! I'm so excited to find out I can plant it outside when it's done blooming.

Rob,

Growers produce about a billion of 'Appleblossum' every year. Here is the one I wish I could buy - it is an old hybrid>

Roberta...I can't imagine why your callas don't bloom. They're usually super easy and will even grow in standing water. I have lots of them in every exposure from full sun to full shade and everything in between. The ones in full sun look pretty ratty in the summer, but I just hack them back to the ground and it doesn't phase them.

I see you have what looks like Bearded Iris in front of them. Do THEY bloom? If so, the callas "should".

Yep, the iris do bloom..they're actually blooming now! Go figure...

You guys are genious!!! I followed your advice and divided my callas....they are blooming like nuts!
Thanks Dale!!!

Glad yours is blooming now!
I have these huge ones, I think it's 'Hercules' and they are in full sun, bloom all the time.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/190992/

Sue, that's a beauty! I planted three different varieties last fall---I'm getting my first bloom on the Green Goddess. The leaves were just coming up and they got hit quite badly by the frost, so everything that's visible now has flat tops on it, both leaves and blooms!

beautiful, love the leaves!

Wow, I gotta get me some 'Hercules'! That is spectacular.



This message was edited Mar 15, 2009 8:30 PM

Hercules doesn't die down like my other callas, the frost made the leaves limp after maybe the third night but they popped back up.

Here's another one, taken yesterday. I divided the main plant last fall so have it in several spots now. Tough as nails, I pretty much ignore it, occasional watering and it's a happy camper.

Hmmm. I had Green Goddess long ago and have been thinking I need to get another, looks like I'll have to look for Hercules at the same time.....

Sue, I love those leaves, nice!
Now that they've been properly divided (thank you!) ALL my callas have decided to bloom!

I'm so thrilled!

Well, I just had to go order one of the speckled-leaf kind after seeing the photos here. Pathetic. At least I have a good place to put it.

I can't wait until my Callas get big and I can divide them. The leaves are the perfect size and shape for the low tier of my 'jungle'. I found a good deal on the Z. aethiopica at Armstrong GC here in Pasadena, so I bought 3 (thought I should be thrifty and just be patient to dived them eventually). I'm always caught between being thrifty and wanting the immediate gratification of the amount of plant I want right now. Of course, I am glad I got three. I can see how they vary in different parts of the garden.

I have the same "problem", lol!

I can't even get my colored ones to put up a leaf. In the past I have spent so much money on them and never got anything! I tried about 3 years in a row then gave up buying them. The first year I planted a long border with loads of them.

Though the big white ones here are a weed. I hate them. They come up all over and are a pain to get rid of. If I do not pull them they get huge and just take over. I rue the day I ever planted one, if I actually was the one that planted them.

Now if they could develop with colored huge ones, I may not be so mean to them.

Boy i'm with kell don't know why but mine thrive on strait up abuse! i do like some but not as many as they seem to want to be. Ha, zone lol! hack hack pull pull deadhead and do it all again next month!

I hear you Wonderearth!

When I came home tonight I peaked into my front garden over the hedge and I all I could see were tons of little white callas coming up. Where do they come from? And now the roses have grown so much I can't crawl in there to dig them up without getting attacked by thorns. I hate those callas! Thye must be resseding themselves. I do not get where they are all coming from. They are getting as bad as Four O'Clocks, the bane of my existence.

Gee, Kell, I just got the spotted calla bulb yesterday that I ordered...and I planted a bunch of other callas last fall. Hope I don't regret that decision.

the colored ones won't even grow for me,lol, they rot

the colored ones do fine in pots, I think they like to be pampered.

I planted some, too ima : )

I think they are still worth having despite their tendency to spread, they are very pretty and bloom at a nice time : )

And I was doing a Women's Work Day at my friend's house who has gorgeous clumps of callas----they are so pretty, and if they get invasive, I can share. She has combined her callas with cannas, and I've done one of my beds with that combo. They both have big fancy foliage, and when the callas fade the cannas start blooming.

interesting combo idea.

.. hmmmm not a bad idea, my cannas are mostly by the air conditioning unit (stays wetter there when it's brutally hot) and they really need a few tall & short partners .

You might combine some of the cannas with red or striped foliage; if you want Wyoming, I have some I can share.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/3302/