Hi Alice, Thank you! The one in the last photo is Fancy-leaf Caladium (Caladium 'Florida Cardinal')

Here's a pic of some FL Cardinal I planted on June 4th

OK, I'll have to put that one on my "wants" list.

Florida Cardinal has become one of my favorites!

Promised update on plant I showed Jun 25, 2015 11:05 AM CDT, last pic.


The flower has fallen to the ground behind it, a new leaf has formed.

Here's some caladiums I planted on June 4th. I'm experimenting with a new fertilizer formula and they seem to be responding quite nicely




Some individual varieties by themselves

Scarlet Beauty


Marie Moir


Candidum Jr.


Pink Illusion

Bill, oh my goodness, what a beautiful experiment!

You just planted those bulbs on June 4th? That bed is really gorgeous! In those individual photo's, I'm really loving the Angel Wings (Caladium 'Marie Moir') and Fancy-leaf Caladium (Caladium 'Pink Illusion'). I think I need to put those two on my wish list!

edited to add the database links ... and we need pic's in the database of both of those beauties. There are currently two pic's of Marie Moir but none for Pink Illusion. *hint *hint

Just read all the messages in this thread and learned a lot but did not see that anyone digs up their bulbs and stores for the winter. I was given several bulbs in June, some nearly dried up. The person giving me those bulbs had them all around her garden in pots and digs them in the fall and stores them for the winter. Any of you do that? I planted those in pots in June and have enjoyed those beautiful plants.

Carolyn, we are all far enough South not to need to dig them up to store for winter. Tiffany is in Alabama and the rest of us are in Florida. But even down here in Central Florida, they do die back with the first cold nights, and stay underground of their own accord until it warms up nicely in spring.

You can dig them out of your pots, or just take the pots and all indoors after they die down, and store in a cool area that will not freeze for the winter. (like a basement?) Mine do get some rain here and as long as we don't have a really hot spell they don't break dormancy. So if you do bring them in, you should remember to water them a little bit with cold water, maybe dampen the soil every couple of weeks or so, just so they don't dry completely.

Hi Carolyn, I also grow my Caladiums in containers. Our weather is still holding, so they are still outdoors, still growing some leaves, just watching our forecasts for now and eventually will pull the containers indoors in our garage once our overnights starts going below 55F. I do not plan to remove them from their containers and will just keep them as dry as possible till they go out again in late May.

ladymayberry said:Just read all the messages in this thread and learned a lot but did not see that anyone digs up their bulbs and stores for the winter. I was given several bulbs in June, some nearly dried up. The person giving me those bulbs had them all around her garden in pots and digs them in the fall and stores them for the winter. Any of you do that? I planted those in pots in June and have enjoyed those beautiful plants.

I do. I am in 5 B - not way down in those HOT zones. As dyzzypyxxy said - you can dig and store or leave in pots where it won't freeze (basement or garage as long as it does not get below freezing). If you store in pots you might want to add a small drink once a month or so. I do that with everything I bring in - which is a lot.

Regarding storing bulbs, tubers, corms etc - I always dust everything with powdered Sulphur before storage. Also, I have learned from experience to check everything once or twice over the winter. Here that means up to 7 months in storage. Things can and do dry out. When checking, it they are withered a bit, I mist them lightly out of storage and then restore once dry.

Caladiums here do not bloom much - perhaps that is a zonal thing. BTW - I love em, but did not grow any this year.

Hope this helps.

As a follow-up to the bloom part of the discussion, I didn't see any more blooms (from newly planted bulbs this year, didn't move any from the old house.) The bulb that did bloom has continued to look like the other non-blooming plants.

End of the season pics:





@Tarev they are probably hardy where you are, but the soil might be too hard/dry?

Tiffany, technically the plants are said to be hardy here, but I have not planted anything in ground here. I want the quick flexibility of moving the plants as needed. Sometimes we get very strong winds or we get too furnace hot in summer and come winter we get inversion fog, occasional hard freeze or cold winter rains. Though we do need the rain badly, anything that comes is so welcome at this point.

So far since this is my first year with them, I find they can take the heat very well, I guess due to the protection of our house in the morning and the city trees in the afternoon. But got to water them everyday to keep those leaves up. Very thirsty plants for sure, since we get into 5 months or more of no rain here, and watering is a premium.

So will see how my first overwintering goes later..fingers crossed! I really want them to be back happily next summer. Our temps returned to low 90's, so I have a little extended show outside for now.

Sounds like you've put a lot of thought into it! Judging from your other plants, I'm sure it will do great for you. Definitely thirsty! They wilt before Coleus when planted adjacent in my yard.

Bought a number of tubers in Lake Placid a little while back (at the Caladium Festival). They are doing great in the pots.

Hey Guys,

Sorry I haven't been on here in a little while.
We have a rule of thumb that if you live North of I-10 you should probably dig them up and store them over the Winter.
It all depends on Mother Nature and the day I can predict what she's going to do is the day I retire because I'll be rich!!!...lol...

@orchidgal - Very Nice!! The next time you come over for the festival, come by my warehouse!! This past year I took about 7-8 groups out in to the fields to get up close and personal with them.
Make sure you bring a camera!!

Bill

@orchidgal Elfrieda - Love your pretty Caladium's! I still have one pot of caladium's that haven't gone dormant yet this year but they are getting close. It's been such a warm winter this year that they've showed themselves a lot longer than normal. I really look forward to this coming May when we move farther south to Sebastian because our property there has lots of shade ... I've already scoped out many places where I want to plant Caladium bulbs!!

I've already been drooling over all the beauties at Bill's site http://www.caladiumbulbs4less.... and planning my order!

Me too, Lin. I ordered new Caladiums from Bill last week. Just love them, and my fall-planted ones are still going strong as well, thanks to the warm weather. I imagine they'll start petering out this week, though.

I sent this picture with my holiday e-mails to friends last week, Gingerland looks so festive to me.


Florida Cardinal fading to pink just a bit now.

I particularly like Florida Cardinal

Me too, David but I must admit this one "White Wings" is my current favorite - both have that pretty shaded border.