What a grand suprise I had tonight when I opened my greenhouse door – the very first bloom on the Zantedeschia aethiopia Green Goddess I grew from seed was waiting for me!
I was so excited I had Sarah stop decorating the Christmas Tree to come and see the bloom! Angel, my yellow lab, followed wondering what I was so excited about! Poor Sarah had no shoes on and had to leap over the wet ground to get into the greenhouse to see the flower. She was not quite as excited as I am, but hey, she has yet to grow her first seed to the flowering stage!
I began germinating these seeds in damp paper towels on January 23, 2006. I had four seeds and ended up with four plants. The seeds took approximately 21 days to germinate, with the first seed showing signs of germination on February 6, 2006.
That spring I planted two of the seedlings in the ground and left two in peat pots in the greenhouse pretty much neglected. The ones I planted in the ground I fertilized and then mulched that winter with pine needles. I then covered them with plastic hoping they would survive here. Needless to say, last spring they did not come up at all.
In the corner of my greenhouse in a flat the other two seedlings were still setting, so I decided to pot them up with a Clitoria. They grew like weeds this summer. When fall came the planter went into my greenhouse. I had no idea when they would finally bloom. I simply cannot tell you how excited I was to see my first bloom tonight. It is a lovely green as you will see from the photo. The other plant appears to have a bloom getting ready to open on it as well.
The only fertilizer these plants received was a time release fertilizer that I put in the soil this spring when I potted them up. Other than that the plants have received nothing but water.
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