Colorful callas are the dwarf type compared to the white ones and require slightly different care.Just when I thought the glorious spring bulb season had come and gone, the calla lilies began to strut their stuff. I spotted the color outside my front door about two weeks ago and they continue to shine.
Callas may be my new favorite bulb for pots, and they certainly win that honor until I decide otherwise.
I grew callas long ago with limited success. My best friend lived next door for many years and a boyfriend liked to give her plants. Bonnie did not actually hate plants, but she certainly knew how to kill them. When she received a blooming calla lily bouquet, I inherited the dried, shriveled bulb mess.
“Do you want to do something with this?” she offered after all the glory was gone.
I put the bulbs in the ground and forgot about them. They bloomed, ever-so-slightly the following year. The performance of these calla lilies was not impressive enough to consider them a go-to garden staple.
A decade has gone by and I realize now that I really misjudged these south African flower gems.
In January my friend Samantha was married and chose callas as her primary floral theme. I was her maid of honor and together we gave those calla bouquets a beating. The flowers successfully passed from bride to maid more often than a Super Bowl pigskin. They survived being clunked onto tabletops and bashed into bannisters, looking picturesque by the time the train left the station.
(Samantha was married at the California State Train Museum, and the couple literally rode off in a train car).
She couldn’t take the bouquets on the plane to Chile, and they became a gift for me to enjoy.
In a way, you could say that I “caught the bouquet,” because the only other options for the flowers were married women and preteen girls still dreaming of their first kisses.
My plan was to spray the flowers with hairspray, let them dry and create something beautiful and artistic with the wedding mementoes. Yet, I’m not very artistic and the flowers turned to brown mush while hanging on a string from my ceiling.
POST WEDDING GIFT
When I saw callas on sale at Costco, I dreamed up another romantic gift for the newlyweds and planted one pot of calla bulbs for Samantha, and three pots of callas for me. Costco only sold colored bulbs, presumably because all of the white calla lilies on the planet are grown exclusively for wedding bouquets.
A LITTLE ON CALLAS
The Master Gardeners of Sacramento County, http://tinyurl.com/y9z5dddo, point out that white callas are the statuesque flowers we saw as table centerpieces to match Samantha’s wedding dress. The colorful callas are the dwarf type. The care of each is just a bit different. White callas need moisture year-round, whereas the dwarf callas need a dry, dormant period, similar to other spring-blooming bulbs. Both types of callas prefer light shade.
While I was absorbing all of that Master Gardener know-how, I checked out the Master Gardener’s handy bulb planting guide, complete with bulb types and when they can be planted. Basically, the guide says it’s too late to plant bulbs until September, except for rain lilies, which can be planted anytime.
However, we’ve had such wacky weather I’m betting if you put dahlias in the ground right now (usually planted in May) you could have some luck.
OTHER BULBS
Most garden experts advise you to place bulbs in a “cool dry place,” for the summer. For me, this means I lug the pots to the shade near by back door. Preferably, bulbs should be removed from the soil, covered in peat moss and kept in a cool cupboard or shed until replanting in August and into the fall.
Garden enthusiast Heather Hacking can be contacted at sowtheregardencolumn@gmail.com.
