Saturday, June 30, 2012

Arum Green Goddess (Zantedeschia aethiopica)

I have been growing this plant nearly 2 years and did not know that I have Arum Green Goddess plants growing in my garden until this week when I was browsing through gardening winter catalog. This was plants received from a friend who went back to Malaysia. Two years ago, I was only interested with growing edibles for the family. But it was hard not to accept some homeless ornamental-looking plant in pots. Originally the plant was in a pot and we divided the rhizomes since the original plant look cramp in the pot. I did not have any knowledge about this plant and I was not sure either whether it produces flowers or not so I just followed my instinct.  The foliage look like some plant which will appreciated some shade from hot sun.    So I located the divisions to places that have dappled light. After a bit of researching regarding this plant today, it does well in dappled light with hot summers and it is a loving moisture plant, like damp places. I think I failed in the 'moisture' aspect because the plants foliage dries to the ground in our summer garden. However, this plant is very hardy, it comes back again in autumn and start to be lush again. This plant is good to grow near ponds. It is supposed to be summer flowering plant but ours strangely bloom in winter. I think because we have more rain and moisture now which made the plants more happy in winter perhaps.
This is one of the corners near our shed that previously have nothing growing on here and look depressing because it does not receive much light. So we thought, we located 2 Arum Green Goddess plants here and add in other free plants too in spring year 2010. As you can see the plants here are very slow-growing and the photo was taken last winter June 2011. Finally after almost 2 years of growing them, finally we have some Arum Green Goddess bloom in the garden and help me identify what kind of plant this is.
This is Arum Green Goddess plants growing in pots beside our bedroom window. The flowers are a bit smaller in size compare with the ones growing on the ground.
Now, plants at this dark corner in our shed has grown bigger and starts to fill in the space and look much better and cheerful. An almost 2 years project! One Arum Green Goddess is missing because when the dormant rhizome just newly shoot up, I dig out the plant and shipped it to my parent garden in Malaysia to see how it goes last autumn. This remind me that I have to check with them in which location they are growing it and perhaps ask them to transfer the plant near to the pond.
Have a lovely weekend!

17 comments:

Sunray Gardens said...

Neat looking plant. I love nice looking foliage plants.

Cher Sunray Gardens

Jody said...

That's a very pretty flower. I like the unique green tip. You'll be glad to hear that the Aussie Brown onion seeds you sent us are growing big and almost ready to be harvested. I'm going to save seeds so we can have a few next year too! Thanks.

Sue Garrett said...

The stripy plants look like spider plants.

TK said...

Cantik! Tak pernah tengok bunga keladi tu..

rainfield61 said...

Ini bunga keladi?

Saya ada sepuluh pokok keladi, masih tunggu keladi membesar.

Kate said...

I miss tropical plants. Those look like "elephant's ears" that I grew in my garden in Southern California many years ago. Thank you for such a nice reminder.

Anonymous said...

I've got some similar looking foliage coming up next to one of my beds - not sure what it is or why it is appearing all of a sudden but its definitely coming up.

Liz said...

Sorry the above comment was me - over zealous with the return button.

Anonymous said...

Hi! It is good plants & I love nice looking foliage plants.........
garden centre toowoomba

Lrong Lim said...

Is this ornamental? I posted some pics of the amaranth you sent me... pls. take a look if you have time...

Cat-from-Sydney said...

MKG dear,
Does look similar to the Madonna Lily we planted back in Sydney. I hope it's new owner are looking after it very well. Perhaps when you come back here for good you can advise my Mama on her failed gardening project. purrr.....meow!

kitsapFG said...

That is just a beautiful exotic looking plant. I love how you took the mystery gift plant and cared for it and ended up with such a beautiful outcome.

Kelli said...

That's a very striking plant and looks well where you've put it.

Anonymous said...

Your site is really good and the posts are just wonderful. Thank you and keep doing your great work.

lena said...

its flower is really huge almost the same size as the leaves or even bigger! that's quite unique! happy gardening!

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Cher~ I beginning to realise how good this plant fill up our shade corner.

Jody~I am happy to hear that the Aussie Brown onion variety does well in your area. Hope you can post some pic. Good Luck with the seed-saving.

Sue~Yeah they are spider plants.

TK~ Saya pun pertama kali tengok bunga ini, selalunya yang putih full sahaja bukan yang macam ini hujungnya ada mark hijau.

Rainfield61~Harap-harap keladi you nanti cepat membesar sedap buat yam cake.

Kate~The ones growing in container is next to a plant which look more like elephant's ear. It reminds me of my tropical country too.

Malay-Kadazan girl said...

Liz ~ When I was researching about this plant, resources always mentioned that it is spring/summer flowering plant. Ours are weird flowering in winter. Perhaps our summer to dry from them.

Marken~ The foliage reminds me of my childhood.

Lrong~I think it is ornamental. I am happy the amaranth does really well at your potager.

Cat-from-Sydney~ Wah cool name- Madonna Lily. It will nice to meet up when we returned.

KItsapFG~ I am glad that we decided to care for it.

Kelli~It does have a role in making an used corner to look much better. The flower was really a pleasant surprise.

Anonymous~Thank you very much.

Lena~ Yes the flower is almost bigger than the leaves.