How to Grow Calla Flowers

A single calla lily bulb can produce up to 30 flowers during its lifetime, creating a flush of vibrant color and scenting springtime with its blooms. Whether you are growing callas indoors as potted plants or outdoors in flowerbeds, it’s hard to imagine another flower that produces so consistently. However, like all plants, the calla needs careful maintenance to ensure that the blooms are healthy and fully sized, or else you could experience limited blooms and little more than disappointment.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

things you’ll need:

• Soil tiller
• Organic amendments
• Shovel or spade
• Calla bulbs

1. Till the soil in an area of your garden that receives at least six hours of full sunlight daily. Full sunlight is the key to the callas bright colors and consistent blooms.
2. Add 2 to 3 inches of organic material, such as peat moss or compost, to the soil as you till. This raises the soil level slightly in your beds, increasing drainage while the organic matter increases richness and fertility in the soil.
3. Dig a hole about as deep and as wide as your calla lily bulb. Inspect the bulb for eyes, or small growing stems, similar to those on a potato. Plant the calla with the eyes facing up, and bury the bulb so that at least the top ½ inch of the bulb sticks above the surface.
4. Space calla bulbs at least 12 inches apart to allow for root spread. When all callas are planted, soak the soil around your flowers so that the soil is completely moist but not forming puddles.
5. Water the callas any time the top 1 ½ to 2 inches of soil feel dry to the touch. The calla may get this water sufficiently from rainfall. This is the only care needed for callas to bloom; they will bloom in late spring or early summer, and fade in the fall. The plant will bloom again next season.

Tips & Warnings

• Indoor planting and care for callas is exactly the same, just make sure you use a planting pot with drainage holes and quick-draining potting soil. Place the pot in an area where it will receive full sun. The size of the container depends on the variety of calla you have chosen.

• Plant your callas outdoors in early to mid spring, when the soil has warmed above 50 degrees Fahrenheit. You can plant indoors callas any time.

• If temperatures in your area drop steadily below freezing during the winter, dig up your calla bulbs in the fall after bloom. Let them dry in the sun for at least two days, and then store them in a paper bag full of peat moss in an area with temperatures around 50 F until next year.