arum/calla lily

[naughty nic]

i brought a stunning arum/calla lily from B+Q on bank holiday monday, my sister also brought one. She has planted her's in the garden and i have transfered mine into a large pot, both our plants are beginning to have limp yellow leaves. we have both planted them in the correct light and have ( we assume ) watered them correctly, can anyone with experiance in keeping this stunning plant give me some much needed advice as i am stumped as to what to do next, i will be devastated if i lose it. Many thanks.

[shylock73]

I don`t plant mine outside until 2nd week in June and they do well. I hope yours recover but don`t give up hope. Treat as half-hardy annuals and put them in a frost free place in winter.

[Hawkwalk]

They like to be kept very wet and with the warm weather we have had over the past few weeks I would guess they have dried out at some point which has caused the leaves to yellow.

You dont say where you are in the country but they will also not like cold winds which you may have had at some point.

[naughty nic]

thanks for the advice, i am situated in leicestershire, the weather has been gorgeous here (apart from today ) so i have kept them very wet, i was concerned that i had watered prehaps to much? what advice would you give for me to help them, the stems still seem quite firm and the flower also looks fine. just seems to be the leaves that are suffering, my boyfriend says they may have been scorch by the hot weather recently?

[Jules001]

We have got a huge one of these in our pond, so correct advice about it needing to be wet. I know this isn't directly answering your question, but our plant is very attractive to the local snail population, so I would warn your sister to beware of attack if hers is direct in the ground, as yours is in a pot, a good smear of vaseline (or Poundland Petroleum jelly) should keep the nasty blighters at bay. Going back to your question, it may just be the shock of transplanting it that has caused the leaves to yellow, I'm sure it will pick up. I collected the seed from mine and now have lots of very healthy looking plants that I am hoping to sell to a local flower stall, all these plants survived being outside over winter and have, with all of the recent sunshine, burst into life many of them with flower stalks ready to open. Hope your one improves.