Zantedeshia Aethiopica "Crowborough" - pot or not?!
Rob Lockwood
Posts: 380
Hi all - just bought one of these plants and am pondering how to treat it. The requirement is boggy ground: I've got a pond but it's small and the Crowbrough would look out of scale in there.
So I've got 2 options:
1) somehow create a boggy situation for it in one of the beds, either by a drip hose thing or religiously watering every day, perhaps with moisture crystals in the soil? My soil is dry / sandy.
2) keep it in a pot, either a bucket without holes in or a normal pot sitting in a saucer which I can keep constantly topped up, making sure it's constantly waterlogged.
Or could I stick it in a pot with no holes and bury the pot in the ground?!
Just brainstorming really - I'll probably just do 1) and try to water every day, then mulch the heck out of it when I go on holiday! The pot idea might give me more scope to protect it in wnter though...
Thanks!
Posts
My Z a have put up with all sorts of nonsense including being stuck back into their pots while I decide what to do with them. I'm pretty sure they've dried out once or twice too when they were neglected in said pots over the winter.
If you have a big enough pot/bucket, drill holes in the bottom and cover them with polythene because you'll want a little drainage otherwise it'll stagnate, and sink it in the ground. You can then keep it wet, contain it's spread and lift it if you want to in the Winter.
Last edited: 27 May 2016 10:29:02
Hi Rob. I have one of these stunning plants and it is planted in the ground just next to my pond within inches of the edge. It seems to like it there and is a reliable flowerer.
Thanks both
Yes, Ladybird, they ae stunning and I'm considering a spot by the pond so it can at least benefit from some humidity.
Plantpauper - by cover the holes with polythene, you mean a layer of eg cling film at the bottom of the pot which allows a tiny bit of water exchange but not much? Any idea what kind of size the rhizomes get to / bucket size I'd need?
Go big. They're a big dramatic plant. I would tend to lay something like compost bag material over the base though I might be wrong.
They'll only get as big as the container will let them.