I just wish somebody would talk to me about elephant ears...

At this point I'm mostly talking to myself

One of our local master gardeners used to collect and grow elephant ears in our demonstration garden and he got quite a good selection together. One of the varieties that he grew was Elephant Ear (Colocasia esculenta 'Tiger Stripe')

I dug a few tubers this past spring and am growing them in containers on our porch and we love them. The stems are striped like a tiger.

We also have upright elephant ears and lots of other miscellaneous and more common elephant ears.

I've got a start of A. Teacup that I put in my pond, and it has been capsized twice by a gol-durned raccoon. Not exactly picture-worthy at the moment.

My Caladiums are the only thing worth a look right now,
Scarlet O'Hara was hot pink and chartreuse a couple of weeks ago but is putting on more demure colors now. Nice red veining on 'White Queen'

Gingerland, lighting up a dim corner.

Anybody know if 'Hilo Beauty' is Alocasia, Colocasia or Caladium? I've heard it called all three.

I planted several colcassia in a container.
So far two are showing shoots.
We are not into summer yet, although the solstice is tonight.
Also have sprouted Caladiums which will go out when summer comes.

Last I heard it was Alocasia .. some called it Caladium but since it doesn't go dormant for a couple of months it was determined not to be Caladium. Here is a link to the following quote about it:

http://www.arhomeandgarden.org...

Apparently, the plant makes a short rhizome somewhat like a caladium, not the upright trunk found on Alocasia macrorrhizos (Elephant Ear) or the large fleshy tuber of Colocasia esculenta (also called Elephant Ear). Hilo Beauty is a hybrid, but no one is sure what species were involved in the cross, since the plant doesn’t flower. To accurately identify the plant to genus, flowers are critical.

So, depending on the point of view of aroid experts, Hilo Beauty has been classified as belonging to one of four separate genera. The commercial propagators who have it in tissue culture and are mass producing it for the retail trade have chosen to call it Alocasia, so Alocasia it becomes.

Unless someone maps the genome, we'll never know.

Ah, ha! When I bought it the catalog listed it as Alocasia, too. But don't Alocasias have thick leaves and the leaf axil is not enclosed by the leaf lobes. Also Alocasias tend to have leaves that point upwards.

Then someone said it had been re-classified as a Caladium because it does go dormant. And as a matter of fact, mine does! It disappears entirely below ground in winter even when the winter is very mild as our last two have been. As you say, we need a forensic plant pathologist to do a DNA test, don't we.

Caroline, keep those little ears really warm and really wet! They will jump up for you. Mine are growing outside in the shade, but it has been over 90 here every day for a month or more. Night temps 'plunge' into the 70's!

Time to chop some Elephants down.

Oh my word !!!!

Another.

Hope you'll add these to the data base! They're great.

Those are awesome Erik .. If I could plant my C. gigantea next to water they'd get huge too!

Elaine, genome mapping of the plant world has been a blessing and a curse .. Kew and GRIN have caused quite an uproar in many cases because of reclassification of a lot of plants.

I will snap some more photos for you guys. They are growing like weeds here. I would assume atleast 500 of them. They love the grey water run off.

Ah, yes, you can say that again X. The reclassification thing is maddening at times. Orchid growers are in a constant state of confusion because there is so much of that silliness going on. btw, what's the blue flower in your profile pic?

Erik, beautiful ears there! Grey water, we all need to make use of more grey water! I like to take baths because it helps my arthritis, and I add epsom salts to the water. Lucky for me my bathroom has a convenient window. I have a little trash pump hidden in there, and pump my magnesium-laden bath water out the window onto the garden. Best I can do so far, but those plants sure love it!

Believe it or not that's a Morning Glory .. a flower from the mutant strain of Double Blue Picotee .. that particular flower is my favorite mutant.

It's fabulous! I used to grow the old classic 'Heavenly Blue' and they were so blue people would ask if they were fakes.

Speaking of blue, here's my poor little 'Blue Hawaii' surviving under the downspout, needs some fertilizer to get those leaves the right color.

My favorites are Mojito and Coffee Cups. I love the patterning on Mojito and the Coffee Cups are fun to watch in the rain .. the leaves fill up with water then tip over to the side - on rare occasions they make a 'zzzzzzip' sound as they drop the water.

Hrm...
This wasn't meant to be a post... I was attempting to respond to the " lost EE thread", but somehow it turned into its own post... O well got my wish...

I posted several pics of my ears, but once that thread got moved it died...makes no sense to me!
Not a comment in a week...

Anyways... Tiger stripe looks like fun!
Never seen that one anywhere...
Wanna trade, I have about 20 types that are tradeable...

My ears are really rocking now that the temps are more to both our liking 90 by day 70 by night...

Last week I wished for this weather...now friends are all mad cuz it came true...wimps!

I just everything real hard with 11-55-11, lots of stuff noticeably jumped overnight, in 24 hours it wil be astounding!
Used 2 pounds if water soluble...kook aide mix as I call it.

I've got mine used to the heavy feeding now, I just sprinkle it on the ground before a rain, and water it in pretty good, saves my back alot of water hauling, and bending to scoop and pour!

It's probably not a smart move for inexperienced gardeners, and can easily ruin a whole garden that way!
Saves on weedin too, practically nothing around can handle the dose they get, including grass and weeds, they just burn right up.
I swear I think if I could afford it, I could use 5 pounds of 11-55-11 a week on em, I haven't burned one in years, just inch the dose up each watering!

As for the Hilo beauty... The inside scoop I've gotten is that the lack of flower has caused confusion...but it seems to accepted by the serious aroiders as a caladium...
I agree, by traditional standards, it can't be any of the big 2, alocasia, colocasia and more closely fits as a xanthosoma... But I believe it be a caladium myself as well!
The main way I can tell... I love EE, don't care for caldiums...
Don't care for Hilo beauty... Must be a caladium...

Here's some current pics of mine... There's about 30 more in the list thread...o well



Thai giant, new leaf is 5' long, it's throwing a new leaf weekly, or faster!
Should get 10 more leaves this year! Look out!

Mojito, colors awful this year, I may buy a few more and see if I get better genes

C. Fontenesii blooming

C. Diamondhead

Violet stem

June 19TH seems to be the day the magic happens. Last two years in a row I noted the date that my EE leaves appeared both on June 19TH. I broke down and invested in the miracle grow liquid feed and it has changed my life. No kidding, no more hauling watering cans all over the garden. It is worth every penny. My down fall is fertilizing. My tropicals have been showing off their best. This makes it so simple but probably not practical for those with huge property. Nice to see everyone back in tropicals.

Glad you found this thread, Susan. And I'm sorry I mentioned moving the other thread and caused all that confusion. Now that you've got one of those hose-end feeders, you need to buy shares in the company that makes Miracle-Gro. You'll use a LOT of it this summer! btw, best deal on it is at Costco, as I recall.

Sway, I think Dave's fine hand is in the mysterious appearance of your comment as a whole new thread. Works for me.