Pronounciation: Zan-te-DESH-ee-a ae-thee-o-PEE-ca

Hardiness zones
Sunset 13 (with protection, 14-24
USDA 9 (with significant protection)-11

Landscape Use: When in flower, calla lily is a strong visual accent for partially shaded to shaded landscape planters (except during summer when it's too hot), shaded mesic entryways and bright mesic atriums with indirect natural light, potted gift plant, novelty, historic, and nostalgia gardens. In fact, one seems to always find calla lily growing in Grandma's garden!

Form & Character: Upright, fleshy, clean, tender, decorative, delicate, old fashioned, wet.

Growth Habit: Evergreen, herbaceous perennial (sometimes treated as a cool season annual in Phoenix), moderately upright and spreading herbaceous perennial to 3-feet tall with equal spread, basally clumping by underground rhizomes. Generally dormant during late summer through fall.

Foliage/Texture: Elongated, tender, succulent vibrant, bright green, waxy lanceolate leaves to 12- to 18-inches long having stout fleshy petioles (stalks) from the ground; coarse texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Singular flowers emerge on thickened stalks, spathe is usually pure white with a prominent, stout yellow spadix.

Seasonal Color: Flowers in spring.

Temperature: Extremely sensitive to the Phoenix desert summer high heat above 105^oF and the dry desert air.

Light: In Phoenix, shade to brief limited eastern sun exposures only. NO midday overhead or western afternoon sun!

Soil: In Phoenix, calla lily needs a rich organic-amended soil that is well drained. Calla lily is highly salt sensitive and has a relatively high nitrient requirement. During the growing season use dilute, acid-forming liquid fertilizers or controlled-release fertilizers according to label instructions. Avoid fertilizing during fall into mid-winter.

Watering: Irrigate regularly and frequently to keep soils evenly moist.

Pruning: Remove spent flower stalks and senescent leaves.

Propagation: Seed and division of rhizomes.

Disease and Pests: None in Phoenix, but in coastal California beware of the dreaded brown snail!

Additional comments: When I think of calla lily I think of my grandmother who used to grow it outdoors as a foliage and flower accent plant in southern California. In Phoenix, calla lily needs special care to be grown outdoors including selective protected locations and time of year. Otherwise, calla lily is a highly desirable plant that has gained much attention by horticulturist breeders.

There are many named cultivars and hybrids with flower colors ranging from white to yellow, salmon pink, to wine red.