Mid-Atlantic Gardening: After the Swap , 0 by coleup

coleup wrote:
Greenthumb, your pot is from me and is golden sweet flag acorus for your new bogs! Will spread.

ssgardener,
I plant my 'Black stem' alocacia escalente in 3 gal or larger containers but a 1 gal will do for now . I have over the years sunk their 1gal pot into a large container with no problems and easier to pull out for winter storage which I do pot and all with out digging them up and just let the pot dry out and keep cool and shady (think garage) but above freezing. Some people keep them indoors as 'houseplants' and that works, too.

They should really be taking off now with warmer days and nites even though they still seemed mostly 'dormant' at swap time (which made transport easier!} In pots, the stems will grow up to 3+ feet (in ground, more) If yours start to flop put in a bamboo stake for supporting one or two of the larger stems. I use Osmacote on mine . Keep them watered, in fact black stem is often used in water gardens as it does not mind standing water. I grow many of mine in decorative pots with no drainage and just empty them out if too full for too long or lol when mosquitoes start to breed! Their leaves will droop when they need a flood or drink. I do not use anything but promix in my containers and intuitively feel that moisture crystals/potting soil is not right for them, but haven't researched the latest recs, just what works for me.

'African Mask" Freydek and caladora (large upright green leaves appreciate similar care as outlined above, but vary in their "standing in water" tolerance. Freydek can make a good houseplant and is often sold as such. Google any of them and you will learn more than you need to know to be successful ! Or just ask here.

The banana plants must have free draining soil, planty of moisture and lots of food, I use Osmacote. Because of the size of the plants I brought of musa basoo and ensete I would grow them in 3 gal containers, too. Musa should reach about 3 feet and ensete up to four this summer. The musa bassoo I brought to Holly and Ric was container grown its entire life (which kept it shorter) of 7 years and outgrew my overwintering space by topping out at 11 feet last summer. I'm so glad they wanted it! The two babies I kept are 5 and 6 feet starting out the summer.

What to grow with them you ask?I've done impatiens, sweet potato vine, coleus, coleus coleus, plectranthus Mona Lavender, fancy begonias, coleus. creeping jenny, golden sweet flag acorus, Have fun!