Zantedeschia (Calla Lily) in New Zealand

Zantedeschia first came to New Zealand in the early 1900's, largely as seed of both main groups and was commonly sold by a number of seed merchants as early as 1904. This seed included the five original summer flowering varieties and it was from these that the first hybridisation commenced. As well as early work completed by Luther Burbank in California, several New Zealand hybridisers entered the scene. In the early 1930's, our most well known calla breeders emerged as the driving forces behind the range of coloured Callas we now have today. They included:

Tony and his son Trevor Brljevich
Richmond Harrison
Jim Mathews
David Mudge

Three main groups of the coloured hybrids emerged and although they had much in common, these have formed the basis for the range of colour offered by BLOOMZ today. BLOOMZ continues this hybridisation work, the team now led by Jaap Spaans, who's most well known success to date, Hot Chocolate®, is now achieving success on world cut flower markets and has won numerous awards.

The current seed crop is extremely exciting with over 3,000 new variants under consideration this year.

Images from 2010/11 breeding

All these selections have been initiated into tissue culture for commercial trials.


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Images from 2011/12 breeding

Some of our initial selections for further testing and possible initiation.


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