Question
I bought a potted calla lilly from a florist last spring. I am a newbee at this gardning thing and calla lillies are my favorite flower so I wanted to add them to my new colection. After the plant started to turn yellow and basically die, instead of getting some expert advise I got scared I was losing it so I re-potted it into a bigger pot and fed it every few weeks and kept it outside on the porch and I now have THE most beautiful folliage, no flowers of course but what a beautiful green plant I now have. I live in central PA and it is now starting to frost at night so I started looking into care suggestions and it appears that I goofed by bringing it back to life. What should I do?

Answer
Can't blame you for wanting this to last forever and ever, right?  Who wouldn't want to grow this year 'round.

This is unfortunately a tricky plant.  I'll give you instructions, but it may take several tries before you get the hang of it.  I say that however because we should all be encouraged to make mistakes.  This is after all how we learn everything that's worth learning, starting with when we begin to walk.

Trust me, Kari, every gardener I know has killed THOUSANDS of plants in their lifetime.  You can't do it any other way.  I remember what it was like when I was trying to take cuttings from a Geranium.  There I was, with a scissors, cutting off leaves and putting them in water.  I had no idea what I was doing.  Eventually, a few years later, when I was a teenager, I found out I was supposed to take the STEM...!

There are 2 kinds of Calla Lilies/Zantedeschia.

One is the kind that loses its leaves when it rests.  The other just stops flowering and doesn't grow much, but it still has leaves.  sounds like you have the first one... But please read on and maybe you have the evergreen Calla.

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

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 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.  It sounds again to me like you have this one.  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, I have to warn you: Even very experienced gardeners are rarely successful long-term with deciduous Calla Lilies.

Repeat: Even VERY experienced gardeners are RARELY successful with deciduous Callas.

The large, white florist's Calla Lily is a different story.  If this is yours, please let me know and we will talk about what to do next.

All Calla Lilies by the way require rest.

Your Calla plant may have been in the process of going dormant.  Watering and fertilizing would halt that process, but that depends on which one you've got.  Please advise.

rsvp

THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER