any one grow calla lilies in the north?

[johnblagg]

Having bought several calla lilies over the years I decided to leave some outside one year .....to my surprise they are tougher than I thought and seveal came back ...a white a yellow several pink and one red orange.....

To my surprise they make seed often and....even greater surprise the seedlings survived many years and reached blooming size....they produced seed as well and I began saving seed from the survivors....I now am into the 4th generation of seedlings from the survivors and they seem tougher every year.This year I left one batch in a shallow pot on the porch and just last week decied to check and see how they have done with no mulch and actually having been frozen solid in the pot ....

I had 5 or 6 that after warming up were mush and 12 solid with green eyes ready to grow good bulbs.....

LOL long ramble to ask if anyone gets these to overwinter in cold areas besides me?

[RosieC]

My Mum grows them here in the UK. She has them in the ground beside her pond and they overwinter in the frozen ground. Not sure just how cold it gets where you are, but we expect snow several times a winter and ice/frost most winter mornings. Where my Mum is they are in a more exposed area that gets colder weather than I get in the town.

Anyway, she has quite a large clump of them and the clump as a whole seems to always have something living to come back up the next year.

[Daethen]

I grow them in Wisconsin but I dig the bulbs and winter them over in my basement. We are frozen solid for several months each year and I haven't been growing them long enough to chance them not living through it.

[johnblagg]

Originally Posted by RosieC

My Mum grows them here in the UK. She has them in the ground beside her pond and they overwinter in the frozen ground. Not sure just how cold it gets where you are, but we expect snow several times a winter and ice/frost most winter mornings. Where my Mum is they are in a more exposed area that gets colder weather than I get in the town.

Anyway, she has quite a large clump of them and the clump as a whole seems to always have something living to come back up the next year.

well it was 16 degrees F here this week and lol the pot these were in is not 12 inches deep so it was a solid block of ice....I have been saving the seed from the toughest survivors for a long time ....it usually takes about 3 years from seed to bloom so it has been a long time and the originals are still growing in the yard as well....

[Zoi2]

John, what is your secret to success? I've tried for years with callas. I can't keep them alive in the winter, either inside or left outside. I move all outside plants (container) inside for winter and they do fine....not the callas.
Joann

[johnblagg]

Originally Posted by Zoi2

John, what is your secret to success? I've tried for years with callas. I can't keep them alive in the winter, either inside or left outside. I move all outside plants (container) inside for winter and they do fine....not the callas.
Joann

I just planted them and the seedling that volunteered were tougher I guess and we did have several years of warmer winters so the volunteers just adapted I guess.But I do save the seed and plant them in pots but outside in the cold so they ones that come up are the ones that can handle the cold ....

[camille1585]

I've never tried leaving them in the ground, since I always assumed that they would freeze. We get some strong freezes every winter (-10°C or lower) so was worried about them surviving. So I grow them in large pots that I bring inside during the winter once the leaves have died off. They get very lightly watered until they can go back outside. I've forgotten the pots outside until quite late some years, and even when the soil froze over rock solid the plant still survived.

[Paul]

Been years since I grew them. I had several planted up at my folks' place (they're zone 5) out in the middle of the backyard by a birdbath.

Almost never saw any flowers though I liked the white flecked foliage. Two bulbs actually came back for a number of years. At some point I decided to dig them up and move them. One of the bulbs was about the size of grapefruit. That one I gave to a friend of mine. The other, slightly smaller, died the following winter. Not sure why -- I only moved it to a new location about a foot away in the same bed.

[johnblagg]

mine bloom very well ....the batch I just brought in from outside is a planting of seed from the red-oarnge one I have and 2nd year bulbs thought I would let them grow inside untill summer and get a head start....maybe bloom early ...lol the first bunch of seed the red one set