Probably a silly question. My neighbor moved and left an unused pond in his backyard. I was looking at it [no water in it] waiting for the irises to bloom and i spotted what looks like Elephant Ears in between the weeds. Whatever they are they must be hardy. Can someone tell me what they are?

They are Xanthosoma, most likely X. saggitifolium. Very common as pond plants. Most Xantho species will grow in ponds and bogs, as well as in regular ground. The shape of the auricles (the 'ears') is the giveaway

Thanks Gina. I googled it and it says it's not hardy in my zone 7. This pond has gone untouched for years, how has it survived?

Oh Xanthosoma are actually very hardy. Some have gone down to 7. If there is a lot of overgrowth on the corm and the ground does not freeze solid, it can survive. Its considered invasive here. They ask you to please not plant it. It has a habit of taking over waterways

I'm sorry to hear it's invasive, i was hoping to put some near the stream in my backyard.

Jim not invasive for YOU in zone 7. Just invasive here in Florida

Ok thanks Gina. Maybe i'll take a little, he's selling the house and he doesn't care. That and i'm in a constant battle fighting his bamboo in my yard. He also has many irises but none are blooming so i'll leave them alone. Herea a pic of his overgrown backyard dump.

I see a lotus there. You should harvest that. The iris will bloom next season if you get them now.

Gina, is the lotus the plant with the big round green leaves?

Yes. If you can dig that out with a decent amount of tuber intact and pot it up you will get a nice plant that can be grown in a tub garden

Im getting excited about all these cool plants i can use. Do Lotus get big? I have some space along the stream that stays pretty wet but not a lot of room. Can it take a shady spot? He had given up on the pond years ago as the racoons ate his koi. Doesn't appear to have water in it.

Lotus need a certain amount of full sun daily to bloom. Their size depends on the type. There are dwarves all the way up to really large. Most can be successfully grown in sealed plastic tubs. They need water like a water lily to have both floating leaves and aerial leaves.

Thanks again Gina, you've been so helpful. I think i'll put the Elephant Ear in a shady spot on the stream where not much grows. I don't have much accessible sunny wet spots to plant, most have been taken by Ensada and Louisiana Irises from Casadia and Brecks. I'll give the Lotus its own container to see how it does. Here's where i'll put the E. Ears:

Its pouring rain here but when it stops I will take a photo of my containerized lotus. What most people who container grow them do is get a large tub planted. It can be literally anything...a galvanized tub, a but huge bucket, anything that can hold enough soil and water. You want to have a good thick amount of soil and it needs to be soil that won;t float. A lot of people use topsoil mixed with sand. You plant the lotus in the center and fill the tub with water like a mini pond. You will usually have to divide the lotis every season which is fun. You can make more for yourself or trade or share with others

This is my current lotus. I have had a couple over the years. I bought this one locally for cheap ($25) from someone who claims to have grown it from seed. It has yet to bloom so I don;t know the color. It was in sad shape so I had to rehab it. Its very happy now though. It was 'stuck' in the nursery pot it came in, runners had already started growing out of the holes so I had no choice but to plant the thing pot and all into the larger pot. But it doesn;t care. The runners can get out freely and grow.

Can't wait to see the pics. How deep do you keep the water? I worry about mosquitoes breeding. I have some tropical Cana's i keep in a plastic barrel with an inch or so of water. They grow so aggressively there's no room for anything else in that container.

Jim, I'd have my toes in that creek constantly. Love your streamside garden!

jpm995 said: Can't wait to see the pics. How deep do you keep the water? I worry about mosquitoes breeding. I have some tropical Cana's i keep in a plastic barrel with an inch or so of water. They grow so aggressively there's no room for anything else in that container.

The water is about 4-6 inches over the soil line. I don;t worry about mosquitoes. We have a million tree frogs and aquatic frogs here that gobble the larvae up almost immediately, and there are dragonfly larvae in the ponds that do the same

purpleinopp said: Jim, I'd have my toes in that creek constantly. Love your streamside garden!

Before you put your toes in the water i have to inform you it's kind of cold plus there's always this guy to worry about.

OOh in really rainy weather they creep out onto the roads here. I love them. I throw them back into the water before they get crunched by cars