From mountain and valley, veldt and fynbos. Over the years, South Africa has given the gardening world a host of fine plants. Many of these fall into the half hardy or tender category, here's one that doesn't. At least not for me!
Zantedescha Aethiopica "Green Goddess" is one of my favourite plants, adding a touch of colour that gives a lift to the "Jungle" type garden but without overpowering it. The splash of white on the green spathe lifts it out of the ordinary and to see a plant with a dozen stems in flower is a sight to behold. There are several cultivars available and I've recently bought one called "Kiwi Blush" which I'm looking forward to seeing in flower.
Growing in sun or shade Z.Aethiopica is a versatile plant. It can be grown as a marginal plant, a border plant and potted up it makes a very good house or conservatory plant. As a marginal, it's best grown in a basket in aquatic soil. This can then be placed in your pond anything up to 12 inches deep. If you live in a very cold area, or your pond is shallow it's best if you lift it in the autumn, pot it up and grow it on as a houseplant.
For use as a garden plant you need a rich soil. Mix in plenty of well rotted compost or manure, give it plenty of water and lots of low nitrogen fertilizer. Avoid using high nitrogen fertilizers or you'll end up with a lot of leaf growth at the expense of the flowers. I use tomato or rose fertilizer. A good mulch of well rotted manure can be used to give winter protection.
To grow in a pot I use a mix of J.I.No3, well rotted manure, gravel and long life fertilizer pellets. I also give it a few doses of tomato fertilizer to help things along. If you're wandering why I mix in the gravel when the plant likes a lot of moisture it's because root's need air and gravel helps provide the air spaces. This also lessens the chance of root and tuber rot developing.
Z.Aethiopica is a tuberous rhizome and dividing it into sections provides us with the easiest and quickest way of propagating more plants. This is the method I use. Your plant needs to be dormant by the way. I lift the plant in the spring, usually the end of March. All the soil is washed off leaving a good clean tuber. I look for any damage or signs of rot. Any part of the tuber that is suffering from rot is cut away and binned, treat all cut surfaces with sulpher or Cheshunt Compound. I then place the tuber in a tray of barely moist peat or compost. It doesn't need any great heat, about 60f. will get things moving. After a few weeks, you should see new growth buds emerging. The next step is to divide the rhizome into sections. Use a sharp knife or scalpel and make the cut's clean. Make sure all the division's have at least one growth bud. Dust all cut's with sulpher or Cheshunt Compound. I usually leave the divisions in a warm spot overnight to allow any excess moisture to evaporate. Pot up in a very well drained, moist compost mix. I always stand my pots in a tray and water them from below, after a few minutes I remove the pot's and let them drain off. Placed in a warm area you should soon see new growth coming up. Whatever you do don't over water them. Keep the division's on the dry side until you see a decent amount of growth. Only then should you start to water more freely. If divided early enough, they should flower in the same year.
Zantedeschia species and the cultivar "Green Goddess" can all be grown from seed. I use a compost mix of one to one Perlite and soilless compost. If the seeds are fresh they can be planted immediately, I put one in a three inch pot with a topping of Vermiculite. Older seeds, I soak in water for a couple of days, giving them a swill in running water after 24hrs and another one prior to potting them up. This rehydrates the seed should help wash out any chemical inhibitors. The seeds are then potted up. I don't have a propagator so I put them in a warm room and let nature take its course. Here again, don't go mad with the water, just moist is fine. You can use a weak mixture of high nitrogen fertilizer to speed up the growth of the tuber. After a couple of years, your tuber should be close to flowering size. Stop using the nitrogen fertilizer and switch to one with a high potash content. This is the one which will give the flowers and the feeling of satisfaction you'll get when you see it in bloom. You'll find it takes about three to four years from seed to flowering so you'll need to be patient. All in all a lovely plant, which apart from the odd suicidal slug is trouble free. Posted by: Mike.