Classic Gardening Magazine
Gardening as it ought to be
Calla chameleon
There's
something audacious about the Calla lily. It's almost swan-like as it
raises its great white trumpet of a bloom over the April garden. For a
sunny afternoon on Saturday it sailed over the border, and then got its
come-uppance.
Because while Saturday felt like the first day of summer, Sunday was straight out of last winter. The calla's stem flopped in the wind and rain. Now the bloom you see above is a ragged ruin, torn and bedraggled.
So,
it may have burned brief but, as someone once said, it sure burned
bright. What's more, there are already two further blooms, sheathed
still in green, ready to unfurl as soon as the sun comes back. It may
be some time. My photographs probably don't do justice to the calla,
but here is a picture that does
Calla are easy to grow. Give them a sunny, free draining spot. Plant the rhizome just under the surface, and away you go. Calla is a chameleon, it comes in orange, yellow, pink - all sorts. But, for me, white is the only colour. Come winter the frost will do for them, turning the foliage to green soup, but in spring they are back.
There's
something audacious about the Calla lily. It's almost swan-like as it
raises its great white trumpet of a bloom over the April garden. For a
sunny afternoon on Saturday it sailed over the border, and then got its
come-uppance.Because while Saturday felt like the first day of summer, Sunday was straight out of last winter. The calla's stem flopped in the wind and rain. Now the bloom you see above is a ragged ruin, torn and bedraggled.
So,
it may have burned brief but, as someone once said, it sure burned
bright. What's more, there are already two further blooms, sheathed
still in green, ready to unfurl as soon as the sun comes back. It may
be some time. My photographs probably don't do justice to the calla,
but here is a picture that doesCalla are easy to grow. Give them a sunny, free draining spot. Plant the rhizome just under the surface, and away you go. Calla is a chameleon, it comes in orange, yellow, pink - all sorts. But, for me, white is the only colour. Come winter the frost will do for them, turning the foliage to green soup, but in spring they are back.
