Zantedeschias

Easy Hot Chocolate

| Flower Roberts

I wish all my flowers were as easy to please as my Hot Chocolate Callas.

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No matter where I plant them, they thrive.  They do best in sun and moist soil.

No trimming, no staking, no spraying…

I do have favorite flowers.  This is one of my top three.  Stay tuned for another top three.

This one is officially Zantedeschia ‘Hot Chocolate’ PP15294.

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I left most of them out for the second winter. They all came back.

It’s description says cold hardy to 10 degrees F, so I do bring in a few over the winter.

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I wish they were all this easy!

FLOWER

An Anomaly

| Flower Roberts

Infrequently, we find a freak in the garden.

The latest was found yesterday.

I mean an irregularly formed flower.

Sometimes calla blooms curl down as they get heavy with seed or full of water.

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A normal bloom looks like this from the top.  A folded spathe around a spadix.

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NORMAL Calla bloom

I went to stake a droopy Hot Chocolate bloom back up and found a surprise.

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DOUBLE calla bloom/two spathes

The bloom included a double spathe.

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FLOWER loves her freaks, too.

Hot Chocolate Calla

| Flower Roberts

This is one of my very favorite plants in my garden.

Zantedeschia  ‘Hot Chocolate Calla’.

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I have many clumps of them around my gardens. Most are located in partial sun with good drainage.  I leave them out over the winter here in Zone 7.

I did dig up dozens of round rhizomes last fall to share as gifts at a Christmas gathering.

The deep, dark burgundy blooms look almost black in low light.

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The bright green leaves have clear streaks that appear silver.

Their 2′ to 3′ height means they fit in well as the second or third line back in a bed.

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The spathe and spadix blooms have a lovely shape from any point of view.

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The blooms rise above the leaves and stand out on their tall stems.

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I have several other callas which will bloom later.

Hot Chocolate is by far my best bloomer.

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FLOWER

 

Crazy for Callas

| Flower Roberts

These Zantedeschias are stealing the show away from the daylilies this week.

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Calla is the Greek word for beautiful.  They are living up to their name.

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The bloom is really a spathe(bract)

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and spadix with tiny blooms.

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The point on the spathe holds a drop of dew in the morning.

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The variegation of the ‘Hot Chocolate’ leaves looks silver and is really clear spots in the leaves.

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The colors of the spathe of ‘Captain Romance’ shift from green to pink.

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These are not really lilies and they don’t come from bulbs.

Their round rhizomes are poisonous, so be careful where you store and plant them.

I always take a few in over the winter, but leave most of them out.  I am in zone 7.IMG_0335

Follow the FLOWER.