The white arum lily, so familiar in our gardens and florists, is not really the arum lily at all.
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It is zantedeschia aethiopica, but it is universally known as arum lily or lily of the Nile.
There are six species in its genus, and they include some beautifully coloured flowers.
For instance zantedeschia elliottiana is a lovely yellow sometimes with a spike of bright yellow berries that are attractive to birds.
Others have flowers in a range of colours from red, pink and bronze to orange.
The arums came originally from the Mediterranean region and western Asia.
Arum palaestinum, a native of Israel, is a close to black as flowers get and Arum maculatum is a fairly common wildflower in Britain and much of Europe. It is also known as lords and ladies, jack in the pulpit and cuckoo-pint.
The dracunculus species are closely related to the arums.
But beware of dracunculus vulgaris. Although spectacular when in flower, it is not a plant you want near the house.
When the flower is fading, it gives off a foul odour like a long-dead rat. This is nature’s way of attracting flies to propagate it.
Planting plan
It’s time to plant several things to provide fresh produce in winter.
Brussels sprouts are ideal. These should go in by the middle of the month to enable them to grow into big, strong plants in the coming warm months.
Leeks also should go in this month.
Cabbages, caulies and broccoli also planted now will develop strongly before the cool weather arrives.
These all like to do their maturing in cool weather.
As a novelty, you could try early purple head cauliflower. It has qualities between a normal cauliflower and broccoli.
And kohl rabi will introduce a pleasant change to the winter diet.
Silver beet sown now will be ready to pick in autumn and will go on producing all through winter, finally running to seed late next October.
Swedes and turnips sown now will make a delicious addition to winter meals.
Of course, fast-growing vegetables like lettuce, Chinese cabbage and radishes can go in now and will be ready to pick before summer is over.
Tomato care
Now that your tomatoes are in full cry, give them a watering with liquid fertiliser every couple of weeks.
Make sure the ripening fruit is not hit by blossom end rot caused by irregular watering, allowing the plants to dry out.
A water-soaked spot first appears at the bottom end of the tomato when it is about one third of the way to maturity.
The spot enlarges and turns brown and leathery until it covers up to half of the surface, making the tomato unusable.
A deficiency of calcium is the basic cause of the trouble and can be counteracted by digging in some dolomite before planting.
Over- or under-watering aggravates the condition so ensure that your tomato plants have an even amount of moisture.
Pollen-nation
As we watch bees buzzing from flower to flower, we don’t give much thought to the marvel nature is performing.
Nearly 90 per cent of all the world’s plants depend on bees and other insects for their procreation.
Sometimes pollen travels from one plant to another with the help of wind, birds, snails and even animals’ fur and human clothing.
Nature has constructed flowers so that pollinators such as bees and beetles are attracted to them by colour or fragrance, or when some flies are the pollinators, by an odour of decay
Another mystery is that some plants fertilise themselves.