Expert: Long Island Gardener - 1/22/2007

Question
Last May, I received a cala lilly for mothers day.  I have ebeen keepignt he soil moist, but quite honestly, I am sure I haven't taken the best care of it, as some of the leaves are looking discolored and lifeless looking (they are still green).  Can somebody give me advice on how to restore my calla lilly?  Also, until about 6 weeks ago, the flower was kept indoors - it is still in the same pot it was in when it was given to me.  

Answer
Mandy, beautiful leaves and exotic blooms have created a
boom in Calla Lily sales in recent years.  Brides are putting them in their bridal bouquets.  Gardeners are getting them as gifts.  I get lots of questions about Callas.  If you live in zone 8a or warmer, Calla
Lilies are a stunning landscape plant.  But you have not told me where you are writing from.  So I have to base my answer for now on what I do know.

If you live in South Florida you can put your ailing Calla Lily right in the ground and water and feed.  Given the right TLC, it will recover and grow beautifully.  Check the USDA map (www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html) to find out what Zone you live in.

It sounds to me like you have already enjoyed the bloom on your Calla Lily.  There are 2 kinds of Calla Lilies (called "Zantedeschia" by Botanists).  One is the kind that loses its leaves when it rests.  The other just stops flowering and doesn't grow much, but keeps its leaves.

The first one is big and white, occasionally yellow.  The second one is a little smaller and brightly colored.

Which one do you have?

First, the "bulbs" (which are really called RHIZOMES) of deciduous (leaf-losing) Calla Lilies look completely different from the large, evergreen white-and-green florist Calla Lilies.

Rhizomes of the deciduous, colored Calla Lilies are flat, round wafers, typically with bulls-eyes or dark circles.  They grow best in bright sun and can dry out between waterings.

If the flower on your Calla Lily is pink or red or plum, and it has finished  blooming, and when is at the end of the growing season, the leaves will begin to turn yellow.  That would tell you that you have a deciduous Calla Lily -- the kind that loses its leaves when it is resting.

Just water it once in a while.  Don't let it get completely dry.  The leaves will drop and the plant will look like you have killed it.  THIS IS NORMAL.  Don't give up.  

Now Mandy, I must mention one thing here: Even VERY experienced gardeners are rarely successful long-term with deciduous Calla Lilies.

But maybe you have the other Calla Lily.  This one is the large, white florist's Calla Lily.  It is 2-3 feet tall and has solid green leaves.

This one keeps its leaves and looks so beautiful, most people will touch it to see if it is real, even when it is not blooming.  The rhizomes are long and oval, with a larger end that is placed up when it is planted.  These are strong and said to be hardy to Zone 7 (my neighborhood).

They need lots of water.

As someone has pointed out to you, all Calla Lilies MUST have a rest period.  

If you have the colorful, deciduous, slightly smaller Calla Lily described first, this is where many gardeners give up.  That's because keeping a dormant plant can feel like a total waste of time.  You are sitting with a pot of dirt that seems to have absolutely no use whatsoever other than to take up space and occasionally fall over and spill its
contents.  Anyone you live with will think you can't admit you have a brown thumb.  The dog will knock it over and play with it.

At our house, the nanny considered all dormant potted plants utterly worthless.  One weekend she did us the "favor" of throwing out a potted Amaryllis bulb; I rescued it just in time from the rubbish, but not before we argued as to whether there was anything actually growing in that pot of bone dry dirt under the pantry cabinets.  A few months later, of course, there were green stems sprouting from the dry dirt.  She was amazed.

So Mandy, consider yourself warned.  A dormant potted plant, whether deciduous Calla Lily or Amaryllis, is not a pretty sight.  Keep your pot in the coolest spot in the house that you can find without FREEZING, and you have the perfect winter location for your Calla Lily.  Check it every so often for signs of life.  Water it so that it does not
completely dry out, once every two weeks or so.  

Now, your Calla Lily plant might be in the process of going dormant as we speak.  In which case you can slow down on the watering and keep it in a sunny window until it looks like it has really, totally kicked the bucket.

Come summer, you can try watering and fertilizing it through the season.  If you live in the Northeast, or somewhere that snow falls and it gets cold enough to skate on the local pond, you should keep it in the same pot all summer and make sure you water it faithfully.

Refer to the varieties of Calla Lilies sold at
www.pacificcallas.com/Varieties.htm.  If you check the different colors on that page, you will see that even though they are all Calla Lilies, they bloom for different lengths, depending on the color/species.  So don't feel that you
have to induce dormancy, Mandy.  It will tell YOU when it's time for a rest.

Take care of your growing Calla until the end of the summer or at least until the leaves begin to yellow and wither.  Slow down on the watering without letting it dry out completely and see if all the leaves fall off.  And if it appears that you've killed it, keep the pot slightly
moist and cool through the holiday season and don't forget to water it.

Remember, it's the dormancy period where most gardeners throw in the towel.  

Now, what happens when the rest period is over?

Growing Calla Lilies need rich soil, bright light and moisture.  Some people think Callas are good plants for beginners because it is so hard to overwater them, a common and fatal beginner's habit for other plants and very helpful if you are growing a Calla Lily.  Drying these out while they're growing MAKES them go dormant.  Drying them out totally while they are dormant will turn them into good additions to your compost pile.  In the wilds of Florida and Louisiana, these plants thrive at the edge of a tropical pond or lake where it never dries out.

Although I am not a fan of White Flower Farm, and I would not encourage anyone to buy anything from them, they happen to have some very clear instructions that you can access at
www.whiteflowerfarm.com/growguide-293.html.  

They also have photos on their internet catalog of some of their overpriced Colored and White Callas.  

WFF's success depends on explaining the keys to growing the plants they sell and I think they have done a good job on that page with the Calla Lily.  If you can get past the unfamiliar vocabulary (think of a "RHIZOME" as just a funny looking bulb that you plant sideways; with little bumps that sprout into plants), you can see why these Calla Lilies are
so popular.  The hardest part is the patience you need to get through deciduous dormancy, if of course that is the kind of Calla you have.

Hopefully not to confuse matters too much, your Calla Lily is not really a Lily.  It might look like the picture in one of these links (which also post cultural information that you might find of interest):

"www.botany.com/zantedeschia.html" (make sure you scroll down when you get to that page and see the picture);
"www.flowersbulbs.com/calla_information_faqs.cfm"; "www.plantzafrica.com/plantwxyz/zantedeschaeth.htm" or
"www.floridagardener.com/pom/calla.htm".

We will have a test on this on Tuesday.  

It sounds like a lot of detail but these terms come up over and over in the Garden.  

You should learn the Latin name for every plant you grow, Mandy, so that you don't get bad advice from someone who knows one and not the other -- Calla Lilies and Daylilies are not Lilies; Tuberoses and Rose of Sharon are not Roses; and one does not harvest Tulips from Tulip Trees.

If you find this Calla exercise discouraging, I recommend that you cheer up and go out and buy some more of them.  We learn from our mistakes.

ALL of us.  

There is a lot of mis-information on the Internet about this plant, and you can see how that would happen -- evergreen/deciduous, hardy/tender, it can get confusing.  The challenge of growing and flowering a Calla Lily is worth the effort you are making.  And if you can get through a
full one year cycle, you are on your way to becoming the Queen of Callas.