Calla Lily

Calla Lily

Zantedeschia aethiopica

(zan-te-DES-kee-uh) (ee-thee-OH-pik-uh)

Keeping with the California theme of yesterday here are a couple more Californian plants. The Calla lily was blooming all over the place and when I came upon this one I was reminded of the Calla I found growing way, way out in the woods on Kauai. It was such a perfect specimen and so beautiful but 3 miles into the woods.

A friend of mine once took a couple of Callas home from work and planted them in his garden. I was like “good luck with that” since they aren’t hardy in this area. The plants seemed to beat the odds and have lived in Norwalk, Connecticut for several winters. I was at his house the other night (band meets there) and I noticed his Cairn Terrier butt deep into one of his flower beds and sure enough he had totally dug up the Callas. We carefully put everything back together and will hope for the best.

This plant was almost a little alarming looking. Kind of a “Seymour” look to it. Its geometry was stunning as was its color.

Variegated Century Plant

Agave americana var. marginata

(a-GAH-vee)

Blue Agave

Blue Agave

Agave tequilana

(a-GAH-vee) (te-kee-lee-AH-na)

Synonyms: Tequila Agave, A. palmaris, A. pseudotequilana

This is a little stand of Blue Agave we saw growing in Southern California. While the main purpose of growing this plant is to get the sap from the heart to distill tequila it seems to make a nice looking landscape plant too. The dusty blue and arching leaves are pleasant to look at but the leaves are very pointed and can present some danger to gardeners and farmers.

This plant is native to the Jalisco area of Mexico where it likes to grow at an elevation of 5,000 feet. The heart of the plant has a high production of fructose and they are harvested after about 12 years. Once the agave flowers it dies with each flowering stalk producing several thousand seeds.