Jim McKenney wrote: > I've had problems with Z. aethiopica too, but I think the root of that is > that this species is a winter grower which only very reluctantly changes > seasons. This issue has been touched on but I think not yet fully explored. Zantedeschia aethiopica has a wide range in South Africa, encompassing both winter and summer rainfall areas. It seems sensible to me to assume that most importations of Zantedeschia aethiopica have been from the area around Cape Town, where it is very common, even growing at the very tip of Cape Point. These winter growers would certainly be tender in northern Europe, necessitating the glasshouse culture/underwater techniques to survive. I have collected seed of Z. aethiopica on the Sani Pass, in Kwa-Zulu-Natal, a classic summer-rainfall location and source of many hardy plants for UK gardens. The seedlings are absolutely hardy here and flower in midsummer. Mulling over it, I came to the thought some time ago, that the generally reliably hardy clones in the UK, e.g. the old but unspecial 'Crowborough' and the recently named 'Glencoe', are probably from the summer-rainfall area, though this is impossible to prove. If so, it demonstrates the importance of provenance when selecting South African material for garden use. (Another plant with similarly wide distribution in SA & reputation for tenderness is Melianthus major: again, one suspects that most seed has come from the Western Cape, and one wonders how material from the Drakensberg would fare.) The pink-throated form of Z. aethiopica also seems to be entirely hardy here, and occurs in eastern south Africa somewhere as a wild plant. Z. albomaculata survives outside here, but is late to emerge, and does not flower very freely. John Grimshaw All messages in my Inbox received between September 2008 and 30 May 2009 have been deleted: please resend anything you feel is important! Dr. John M. Grimshaw Sycamore Cottage Colesbourne Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 9NP Tel. 01242 870567