The Calla Lily The calla lily has been a personal favorite of gardeners and florists for many years. Originally from Africa, the calla lily has endured many different name changes. Specifically, the flower draws its origins from the tropical area from South Africa to Malawi. In the United States, the calla lily is grown all over. However, the flower is grown as an annual up north because of the threat of frost. From a nomenclature perspective, the calla lily is a bit of a paradox as it is neither a calla nor a lily. Although grown for many generations prior, Swedish botanist, Carolus Linnaeus took credit for the discovery and, incorrectly, classified the plant to be a calla lily; advances in botanical sciences would later create a more stringent requirement for the calla genus, which would, unfortunately, leave the calla lily behind. The calla lily is a member of the Zantedeschia genus, aptly named after famed botanist Giovanni Zantedeschi. Eventually, the calla lily emigrated from southern Africa and made its way to Europe. The earliest report of a calla lily in Europe was a painting of the Royal Garden in Paris dated 1664. Whilst in Europe, the calla lily became somewhat of a fan favorite as it was very easy to grow and could be cultivated to bloom year round in Southern Europe. Additionally, the flower can survive a long time after being cut, providing for long-lasting arrangements. With the demise of monarchies across Europe, the calla lily has been relegated to serving as themes for American weddings and, strangely enough, funerals. Wedding planners like the shape of the flower and the simple elegance that a bouquet can provide. Additionally, white is a symbol a purity, which explains why, traditionally, brides wear white dresses with white flowers. Alternatively, the funeral industry likes the white color that the calla lily posses because white is the color of rebirth and resurrection, a justifiably popular trend at funerals and cemeteries. The calla lily is best grown in areas with good sun exposure. Generally, the quality of the soil does not need to be overwhelmingly high quality as the flower is a hardy plant that can grow in adverse conditions, however they do prefer loose and drained soil. The loose soil promotes a climate of constant temperatures. The calla lilies buds are supposed to be dried out prior to planting. It is advised to put them in the ground in the spring after the threat of frost has passed. In a perfect world, the bulbs are to be placed a foot apart to provide room for the roots underneath to spread out. The flower is to be kept moist allowing it to bloom in 60 days. One of the better traits, from a gardening perspective, is that the calla lily can be regrown, meaning that the gardener has the ability to dig up bulbs in the fall, after the primary growing season, and store them over the winter. I interviewed a major calla lily distributor Pacific Callas about the pricing of the plant. Their representative, Peter, was actually very helpful. He told me that the flowers are grown all over the world, even as far away as New Zealand. Peter attributed this to the ease of growth of the plant. As far as the pricing that the distributor pays the farmer for the bulbs, he would not say. I understood this and chalked it up to a trade secret. He did say that consumers can purchase bulbs for roughly $3 per bulb with discounts coming with more quantity purchased. For my other interview, I interviewed Ashley who works at my local supermarket. Ashley was as helpful as could be, but admitted that supermarkets do not exactly offer the best training to their employers. She did say that it was a fairly popular flower and that she had seen it used in pictures, but that the supermarket did not offer the flower regularly. To be honest, when I was assigned the calla lily, I did not know anything about it. However, after doing my research, I learned a lot about the flower. One interesting this I discovered was that although native to southern Africa, the flowers there are treated as nothing more than a weed and are actively cut down to make way for agriculture. I found this to be extrememly interesting because Americans can be found using this plan during weddings and funerals, two tremendously important events in one’s life; but on the other side of the globe the flower is little more than a nuisance to the locals. Aesthetically, I find the calla lily to be pleasing to the eye. Although not a lily, when I hear the word, I immediately conjure images of Easter; I always enjoyed Easter when I was growing up. I would definitely consider growing this flower because many sources said that it is a very easy grow and with my limited gardening skills, that is an idea I could get behind.

Bibliography
• Peter from Pacific Calla – Personal Interview
• Ashley from Shaw’s Supermarkets – Personal Interview
• Howstuffworks.com/calla-callalily
• Western Garden Book – Sunset Editors
• Arum or Calla Lily – Jackie Miles