The Weather!

The weather affects us all, and as gardeners and nursery men maybe more than most. My daily jobs are dictated by the weather and I remember the year by the weather. I think our obsession with the weather is due to its uncertainty and changeability but that’s what keeps us on our toes.

Last winter it stayed mild until the end of December and only turned cold when my first pallets of seed potato were due in at the beginning of January (typical)! It then stayed cold for what seemed like forever. I was still recording night time temperatures of 3 or 4 degrees at the beginning of June. Not the best temperatures for growing Zantedeschia (Calla). Usually, by June we can leave the vents open and put Zantedeschia plants outside.

So the summer season came and went. It always seems to pass by like a flash. Maybe that’s something to do with the 12 flower shows that we attend, where we display Zantedeschia (Callas). Overall it was a fairly good season, nothing major went wrong, we achieved 5 RHS Gold Medals including a Chelsea Gold and the weather was ok. Oh actually let me rethink that last one; the summer was a bit of a flop weather-wise, and apart from a scorching hot week at Hampton Court the summer never really happened. On the positive side when the blooms did open, they lasted longer than usual.

September and October were dry and pleasant which helped to make up for the lack lustre summer. Actually the dry, mild autumn really helped to keep the Zantedeschia plants looking fresh and healthy right in to November, which is when we are usually drying our rhizomes ready for the winter. A full winter care description for Zantedeschia can be found on the tips page.

After the decent autumn we decided to start putting up a new glasshouse. This will give us a bit more space in the spring for growing our Zantedeschia (Calla) for the flower shows. Well, we could not have picked a worst 4 weeks for this project!  From day one it started raining and I don’t think we have had a dry day since. The weather in November can only be described as horrendous.

Who knows what next year will bring?… But I do know It won’t be long before we are planting Zantedeschia rhizomes again.  Our current range of Zantedeschia can be viewed and ordered in our e-shop.