Zantdeschia hardiness
Jane McGary (Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:10:28 PDT)

OK, I didn't change the subject line even though it's spelled wrong:
understand "Zantedeschia."

Jim McKenney wrote,

This is news to me. Here in Oregon, Z. aethiopica is dormant in
winter and emerges in mid-spring, going dormant by late summer. It is
in flower now. Another odd thing is that although this is widely
regarded as a wetland plant, clogging ditches when it escapes in mild
climates, here one sees it flourishing in sites that become
completely dry in summer: last week I drove by a magnificent colony
of it growing in a parking strip in front of a storefront, where it's
probably never irrigated.

British garden books (the main kind we used to have) recommend
growing it as a shallow aquatic to enhance its winter-hardiness. I
sometimes see other callas offered as water-garden plants, but as far
as I know none of them is winter-hardy here in Zone 7 or 8, or
whatever we choose to number it.

To return to another aroid recently discussed, Arum dioscoridis is
coming into flower here, and like other correspondents, I find it a
bit early relative to previous years. Also noticed an inflorescence
rising yesterday on the dreaded Dracunculus; maybe I'll try drowning
it as suggested here.

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA