Zantedeschia odorata

[arillady]

Does anyone grow a plant by this name?
 I had a query many years ago from an ASI member - he believed it was in Australia at some time.
Pat T

[Diane Whitehead]

I was in South Africa during its bloom time, but never saw one. 

I was hoping to get some pollen to put on Z. aethiopica which grows
well in gardens here.

After I came home, I found that it grows on the one farm I was not able to visit -
the owner takes one busload of people per day to visit his flower fields,
and he was booked up.  However, this year the farm has become a park,
so next time I go, I will be able to visit.

[Maggi Young]

However, this year the farm has become a park,
so next time I go, I will be able to visit.

That is good news, when so often we hear of the destruction of these habitats.

[Diane Whitehead]

Z. odorata has been used to introduce scent into Zantedeschias
grown as cutflowers for export in New Zealand.  

 http://www.hortnet.co.nz/news/note/calscent.htm is a short
report written in 1998.

[arillady]

Diane,
This farm doesn't happen to produce a seed list do they? Are you willing to share the name and contact details for this farm?
Thanks for the interesting link in NZ.
Pat

[Diane Whitehead]

The farm was Glenlyon where Neil MacGregor managed it carefully to benefit the wildflowers.  It was bought to be a botanic garden last year.  Probably no seedlist yet.

Quote from an article     http://www.bgci.org/africa/news/0408/ 
The new Nieuwoudtville National Botanical Garden plans to be open to the public in January 2008 and will serve as a centre for biodiversity research in the Succulent Karoo region and Bokkeveld Plateau. Focus will be on promoting long-term ecological research, conservation, nature-based tourism and education relating to the region’s biodiversity, working closely with local and regional stakeholders, bioregional programmes, conservation agencies, universities and museums.

[Vinny 123]

A very,very old thread, but..................
I bought a single tuber from Desirable Plants 2 years ago, it flowered early this year and is now out of the compost by around 3cm for the third growing season with me.
It is in a 10 inch clay in a very fast draining mix of muti-purpose, coarse sand and coarse leafmould. It is left without water once the leaves die down but gets dampened from early September and watered well while in growth. It sits on the inside step of my west-facing patio doors so probably sees close to freezing during winter nights.
It flowered for the first time very early this year with the single flower lasting at least 2 weeks. When first open, there is a delicate but very obvious, and gorgeous, scent of Parma violets which changed as the flower aged so that it finally had the scent of cheap white hand soap - sort of coconut(ish). Maybe the reason why literature seems divided about the scent. I tapped the flower every day or so and pretty much got 100% (100++) seed set. Seedlings now coming though.
Swapping a couple of mails with Julian at Desirable, they treat their plant(s) harder and see rather few flowers.
SANBI suggests that it cannot be divided so seed is the only means of propagation. Their suggestion that 3(+) plants per pot makes a nice show would seem a good idea.
I am an aroid fan but the plant does make a very nice house/conservatory plant.

[Maggi Young]

Interesting news on this plant, Vinny. Most welcome, thanks!

[Vinny 123]

Just an update, and offer.
Lots of seedlings here and some have been left in the unheated greenhouse where they have taken 2-3 degrees of frost with no damage.
It remains to be seen what sort of size tubers they will make in one season, but assuming that they are large enough to make posting them a realistic option, drop me a PM if interested - they should go dormant late next spring. As above, although I have a single plant, something like 3 in a 10 inch pots should make quite a show.
My plant arrived as a 2(?) year old tuber - around 25-30mm long ("thumb-shaped" rather than a disc) and took another season before flowering.

[Vinny 123]

Further update.
The plant has flowered, just a single flower, each year and is now 10-15cm out of the compost for another season. However, checking this morning, there are also two shoots only 1-2cm out of the compost, so, it will make extra growing points or offsets (I am not about to "dig it up" to check), just very slowly.

Seedlings did not survive -7C last winter.