Since so many of us grow tropicals out of there hardiness zones much of the cultural information available to us is inaccurate. How much light can the EEars tolerate, what are your fertilizing schedules, how much do you water? Maybe most importantly, how do you get them to survive over winter? Let's share our experiences.

Xanthosoma sagittifolium is supposed to like full to part shade. Here I find they like part sun to part shade better. Morning sun has worked well.

When I grow Callas in ground, full sun, planted deep, lots of mulch and water are the rule. When in pots full sun means watering at least once a day in the heat of summer. Part sun seems to work better.

Love those Ears
Musa cavendish Nana-2010 and '11 w/ Musa Basjoo Won't get nearly as big this year, but I got 3 pups!
Zantedeschia albomaculata tuber-2010

You bring them in in the winter, don't you?

I think you could grow Hedichium coronaria and H. gardiniera (sp?) as well...at least until the ground freezes!

Carol

Yes, they all come in for the winter Carol. Most as tubers but some in pots. I'll check out your recommendations as I'm on the lookout for fun new tropicals. Thanks.

Hedychium coronarium or Ginger Lily. Floridata says hardy to 7b, grows from a thick rhizome and cousin of culinary ginger (Zingiber officinale) - http://www.floridata.com/ref/h....

Beautiful blooms and habit, thanks again Carol.

Does anyone grow this in the north?

I know that it thrives in a warm corner (surrounded by brick walls and in the sun most of the day) in Portland, Oregon in the Chinese garden. They cut it back and mulch it heavily.....

In zone 5 Dragon Wing Begonias and Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' will bloom indoors all winter if brought in and treated as a house plant..

Here's a few edible Xanthosoma, what I call Supermarket EEars.

Nice red petiole and dark green leaves. Labeled red Yautia.

Labeled pink yautia.

labeled white yautia.

Labeled Yautia Amarilla. Xanthosoma atrovirens I think but no variegation like Mickey Mouse. Disappointing.

Grouping with misc. callas and castor bean, Ricinus communis 'Impala'. None of the Xanths have gotten as large as quickly as the C. esculenta, top center.

Evan, you've done a wonderful job! I love the way you've arranged the plants, they're all shown off beautifully! Are you familiar with Brian's Botanicals? He's got a lot of great and unusual tropicals, and has been testing hardiness and lots of hybridizing.

I've been looking to get C. Pink China to try and overwinter here and I see BB carries it. Along with lots of others. I hope you've noticed the Castor Bean. You were right about delaying direct seeding until it warmed up a bit. These 2 were flattened last week by a storm w/heavy rainfall but I staked them up that evening and they seem to be doing fine.

Now if I can add enough diversity to my Cottage Garden, maybe....

This gardening is becoming very rewarding.

I did notice the Castor Beans, they're so perfect with tropicals! And they're gonna be gigantic by the end of next month!

I love Tropicals, really I should try to curb my impulses as wintering them is a real pain. Can't seem to help myself though. My Port Odora Elephant Ears are doing great this year. I have 4 of them now, one at each corner of the Gazebo. I have successfully overwintered them for a couple of years now but I worry each spring if they will grow for me.

They are looking a bit ratty right now as we had a hail storm last week and it did a good bit of damage to my larger leaf plants.
I have two tropical hibiscus in pots out there, too.

Hi Holly great EEars. Are the photos recent? I'd love to hear how you overwinter your Alocasia and how big they eventually get. My EEars have really taken off recently with some working on there 2nd leaf in about a week. Only Colocasia and Xanths though. I've been wanting to get an Alocasia if I can manage to over-winter.

I also tried a nice pumpkin colored Hibiscus which I bought at one of the big box stores. Not nearly as nice as yours though and after over-wintering they put out tons of new growth the following year but no blooms. What's your secret?

Yes, recent pictures, just taken today.
Oh I was so careful with them, not!!! Just dug them up cut off the top and knocked some of the mud off them. Stored them under my seed starting table in an upstairs room. Two of them were in brown paper bags one just laying in a big plastic pot and one laying open on top of a trashcan lid as it was too big to do much with. I store my caladium bulbs in brown paper bags, and my cannas just laid out on plastic trays. Come spring they all just start growing.
Here are some pics of my caladiums.


The Hibs are new this summer. I have overwintered them before but it has been a long time since I had one. I always have trouble with spider mites and other pests when I overwinter the tropicals.

Those Caladium are fantastic. Lari Ann posted that the tubers go dormant over on the Aroids Forum which got me thinking. Yours are great and I'll have to try some in the spring. Re: the Alocasia, are you kidding me. They're not sold locally so I've been agonizing over trying one. What temp. is the room you store them in? I store my Callas, EEars and banana in the basement @ maybe 60F. Do they need light? Sounds like they pretty much stay dormant. I usually plant in late May. Does that jibe or are you earlier?

It's an up stairs room and the wood stove is in the room below it so it is a pretty warm room. Temp is probably at least 70 - 80 constantly but I think 60 would be fine. I store my cannas in a colder area. My son's basement which is colder. My Dad has his Mandevillia go dormant in the basement probably 60-70. I usually start them a bit earlier about the end of April in a protected area. Our last frost date is around May 15th. But this year I was running later and they really don't really get going until the ground warms up. The EE's were planted in ground around the end of May. I am hoping to get an earlier start next year as we are putting up a GreenHouse and I am hoping to put out good sized plants after our frost date rather than the barely started bulbs I am usually planting.

I've found some Alocasias very easy to overwinter, specifically the green upright EE types. I keep them in a cool room and give them very light waterings. My favorite Alocasia, 'Metallic', was not so easy though, nearly lost it to rot a couple of years ago and was able to save it, but last winter I wasn't so lucky.

Evan, the 2 Alocasias that I have such good luck with produce plenty of offsets, I'd be happy to send you starts in spring. One is huge, some leaves over 40" long. The other is a big plant as a whole, but the individual leaves aren't as large. It's a bushier plant with more leaves. I gave a friend a pup from the large leaved one this spring, and it's already producing some big leaves- it's amazing how fast they grow once removed from the parent!

I have great success with some plants but I haven't quite figured out which ones will go dormant and come back and which ones just die off. I dumped a pot of dead taro in the compost only to find it growing beautifully in the garbage a few weeks later. My African Mask goes somewhat dormant also but the Mojito doesn't seem to be coming back.

Holly I think it takes a lot of patience growing plants that aren't hardy in our zone. Finally I have a good grip on timing. I can move everything outside when it is consistently 60 degrees at night and I must keep in mind that the pot of dirt is not just a pot of dirt. By the end of June I have beautiful plants. If you can find the time I think journaling is very helpful. I often feel I learn more from my failures than my success. It's a little hard to imagine when your looking at a bunch of sticks in the basement over the winter. Didn't I see you post somewhere you are putting up a green house? Should be a very exciting year for you.

Neal you know I would! Can I interest you in some Z. albomaculata? Picasso? I'm sorry to hear about your Metallica. I've seen pics and it looks phenomenal. Wentii I think is the copper version which I thought looked great as well. How are the M. Daisies doing? I have several in reserve.