Question
Thanks again- i think your replies are faster than mine are! I'm very interested to get to the bottom of this. OK. I tried the pacific calla website and my plant closely resembles Calla Lily White Aethiopica. I think it's the same plant. I have good photos of the leaves of the plant and one half dead flower if you would like to see it? Ok. Ive had another look at it. It's about 1.5 feet across and about 1 foot high. Flowers are also about 1 foot high (maybe 2-3 inches above the highest leaf). Leaves are quite small- Diameter of largest probably being 4.5 inches across.   

Im not sure if the flower had a scent. Im sorry i have never checked. I just assumed they wouldnt have one. Im quite sure its not the giant calla though. The flowers just arent big enough.

Its funny that you mentioned the arrum lily again. I actually have both- a white calla and arrum lilies, and the foliage is not similar at all. The flowers of the arrum lily are also considerably larger. Also, my calla's leaves are solid green, and have no white markings whatsoever like the examples on all the websites.
Thats why i think its the Calla Lily White Aethiopica.

Does that help at all?



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Followup To

Question -
Hi. Thanks for the fast response. My Calla Lily flowers were both white with bright yellow stamens. They look exactly the same as an arrum lily flower but much smaller. Does that help?
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Followup To

Question -
I'm sorry, i am actually contacting you from Western Australia. I don't know if you will be able to help me. I've had a Calla Lily (white flowers, quite small) since about May which is in the Autumn time. It grew beautifully with fertilising and it has sat in an earn that's full of water since May. Occasionally the water level would go down and then i'd fill it up, so its never completely submerged. Anyway, i read a couple of other people's questions about calla lilies and rest periods and i have the same problem. It's now coming into summer (obviously it's September and only one month into Spring) and my calla has put through 2 flowers that have now died back. (i left them on, is that right?) And i wanted to know if i should be letting it rest now that it's flowered? Should i be slowly drying it out now? The reason i wasn't sure is because everyone tells me theyre summer/spring plants- thats their growth period and its just heading into summer now. I think they survived the winter and continued to grow well because it never really got that cold here (we dont get frost or snow and lowest temperature in the winter was about 3 degrees celcius). So i'm not sure if its done or if its going to continue to grow. I dont know if i have the deciduous type of the other type- what are the warning signs for the non deciduous type? My calla's leaves are a healthy rich green at the moment.

I bought it in a pot as a full grown plant with about 3 leaves on it- it now has about 20 leaves. The leaves are heart shaped, a rich green, with no varigation. It's about 45cm tall i think.

Anyway- should i wait to dry it out until next winter? Will that be allright? Or should i lift it now coming into summer? If i shouldn't wait and the rest period is still coming, how will i know when it is ready (if its not a deciduous calla)

Thanks for any suggestions or replies.
Imogen

Answer -
Hello down there from up here,

Imogen, can you tell me what color your Calla flower(s) were/was?

Answer -
Wow, that was fast!  OK, here goes.

As you know, there are 2 kinds of Calla Lilies -- "Zantedeschia" to scientists. Big, white Callas and smaller, colorful Callas.

You might have the large, white florist's Calla Lily.  It is 2-3 feet tall and has solid green leaves.  But your description seems to draw a picture of a much smaller plant.

To be sure, I refer you to the varieties of Calla Lilies sold at Pacific Callas (www.pacificcallas.com/Varieties.htm), a major world Calla grower/shipper which also posts clear instructions on cultivating this incredibly popular plant.  

All Calla Lilies need a rest period.  

As Pacific Callas points out: "Callas require 10 weeks of vegetative growth post flowering. Dormancy then requires another 8-10 weeks prior to regrowing."

There may be clues to identifying your plant in a Los Angeles Times article (www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-callas17mar17,0,986555.story?coll=la-home-home), published in the spring of 2005, singing the praises of "the common white Calla" which "can survive on rain and go summer dormant, or it can stay evergreen with irrigation."

It is a vigorous, aggressive plant, the Calla in this article: "Some people find them a bit too successful: The knobby asymmetrical tubers disguise themselves as dirt clods, so old plantings are difficult to remove."

Note please the LA Times writes also that this is referred to as the "Arum Lily" in its native South Africa.  Is it a coincidence that you described it as "exactly the same"?

Evidence here may point to Zantedeschia aethiopica.  Of this species, the LA Times writes that this "is one of two summer-dormant arum lilies from the flora-rich Cape region of South Africa ?and the most robust. The second Cape species, Z. odorata, is rare, also white and freesia-scented."

Any fragrance you note in your mystery white Calla?

The plot thickens... but we are reaching a verdict here soon, I think.

It is my bedtime.  Please check those websites and let me know what you think.  I must admit that I am at this time of night in quite a tizzy over your use of the metric system to describe size, not to mention your upsidedown seasons.  We will just have to get through all this. rsvp

Answer
Know that old saying, "If it quacks like a duck, if it walks like a duck, if it looks like a duck, it's a duck"?

The Calla Universe is quite small.  Not so small as the Ginko Universe, and not as big as the Orchid Universe.  Given that the universe of possible Callas is easy to see in full, I would have to agree with you that this is Z. Aethiopica.  Totally.