Dozen for Diana 5 – Arum Lily

Arum – Zantedeschia aethiopica - Calla

(first published on 28th September, when it was flowering ...)

You are in my imaginary smallish, townhouse/courtyard garden. If you have been following Dozen for Diana, so far I have chosen a focal point/informal hedge, a small tree, a variegated groundcover and some colourful groundcover daisies. These plants are happy with the long hot summer and wet winter of a Mediterranean climate. Double points if they are from South Africa.

Third, got to have something special –

beautiful foliage,

flowers to pick,

fragrance,

wildlife friendly,

edible,

pioneer.

Here is an open invitation to Northern hemisphere gardeners
asking, what shall I post about in winter.

To all gardeners ...

Look back to when you first moved to your new garden,

or look across to your new neighbour.

If you had known then, what you know now,

what would have been the first bulb you planted?

The one you LOVE, happy in your soil and climate?

No time limit on this. Please leave a comment when you have chosen!

As a child, I took this beloved plant from the wild. Now, I know wild flowers are protected. And why? So that your children and grandchildren will still be able to see wild flowers. To allow the web of life which that plant supports to survive and flourish. So often we still do not even know, what creatures may be dependent on just that plant for their life. For instance, there is a tiny frog, who lives in these white flowers, they say. I do admit I have never seen one yet ...

from www.plantzafrica.com

Zantedeschia is named after Professor Zantedeschi, probably Giovanni Zantedeschi, 1773-1846, an Italian physician and botanist, although there is some uncertainty about this. The name aethiopica is not directly related to Ethiopia. In classical times it meant south of the known world i.e. south of Egypt and Libya. Although called the arum lily, it is neither an arum (the genus Arum) nor a lily (genus Lilium). According to Marloth, the whiteness of the spathe is not caused by pigmentation, but is an optical effect produced by numerous airspaces beneath the epidermis. The white arum forms large colonies in marshy areas ranging from the coast to an altitude of 2250m. Thus one will find them contending with humid, salt laden air at the coast and freezing, misty mountain grasslands at high altitudes.

These arums were planted in my mother’s garden, then in our Camps Bay garden, then in one litre yoghurt containers for this second garden. Now, they are living in Apple creek and making gorgeous flowers. To the Ungardener they say funerals in the European tradition, to me they say winter rain, spring flowers, the epitome of beauty, and to our working locals they are just pig fodder.

Lighten our darkness

we beseech thee, O lord

There is nothing quite like the impact of, even a single, white arum flower in a garden. The leaves have a uniquely graceful, heart, spearhead shape – which also lends itself to using in a large vase.

Green Goddess

I did fall for Green Goddess. And I have a spotted leaf, which is more the summer blooming variety, but hasn’t made any flowers yet. These two are in Plum Creek.

And then there are the weird new hybrids – like this dark purply-brown one, or red or pink or yellow (pentlandii is deciduous, summer rainfall, yellow; and rehmanii is perennial usually pink – both from the Transvaal, up north). I dunno, an arum is white, it should be white, that is what makes it an arum, not just any old lily.

Italian arum at Klein Optenhorst

This beautiful leaf is an Italian arum, seen at Klein Optenhorst garden in Wellington, which is opened in spring and autumn.

Outside Porterville, arums and Melianthus

When we drive around the countryside now, we see drifts and swathes and clumps of arums, wherever there are streams and seeps and damp hollows. Nature uses arums to tell the gardener, it is damp here. In your garden, you can choose to plant it in shallow water, or water it regularly year round, then it will keep its leaves. Or you can let it flourish in the wet, winter season and fade away in the summer heat, as the wild ones do.

For me, this, arum lily, not a Protea or a Disa, is the Western Cape flower.

To a new reader

This blog is hosted at Blotanical 

It is a garden blog.

Alternate posts are about plants, in our garden, in the wild, or in farmer's fields.

Namaqualand's spring flowers. Open gardens. Fynbos after fire on our mountain.

Depending on how you have chosen to read this post, 

you may need to click thru to the blog

to see the poll on the sidebar. 

Question 1 has had 21 votes - THANK YOU ALL.

In February I will post feedback on comments, picks and the poll.

Photos by Jurg and Diana, 
written by Diana of  Elephant's Eye