Caladium BLOOMS? Didn't know! =0

Am I a nimrod?? I have a huge assortment of garden books, horticultural this & that, and I have managed to completely miss that caladiums will bloom?? I've got those peace-lily-type blooms everywhere this year! I grow the caladiums every year, and this is the very first time I've seen the bloom...........amazing.............

MKJ

I read somewhere that if you break the blooms off the bulb puts more energy into leaf production. Don't know if it's true or not, but I go ahead and break them off since they're not very showy. Is'nt it fun to discover unexpected new things in the garden!

The caladium foliage will start to deteriorate after flowering, which is why people usually disbud the caladium before flowering. But they are ok, except not very showy.

One of mine bloomed too-- I had NO idea!! LOL!!

I thought I had lost all mine, but tonight I found a few nubbins starting to poke up. It's mid July! Sleepy little buggers. I don't think I'll see blooms on these. Frost is a mere 8 weeks away.

How long does it take for caladiums to start leafing out once they poke their heads up?

I had a pretty caladium bloom today! All the blooms I've seen so far were'nt much to look at compared to the foliage, but Florida Sweetheart has white blooms set just above the hot pink foliage and it's a lovely contrast. Such a pleasant suprise!

emilyrasmus,

Depends on the weather...when it is real sunny, it could be as few as a couple of days when you can see an unfurled leaf. The more are coming in.

I still have some poking up.....and, I know the blooms have got to slow the leaf'ing down, but wow--I'm still amazed that they do it! I marvel. =)

And, you know what? I resisted planting them every single year my husband "made" me......thought, "Why? They're just foliage plants??" Well, needless to say, I dig the foliage and my surprise this season!

=)

I got a good deal from Parks this spring on a collection of 5 each of 11 varieties of caladiums. I started them indoors in 4" pots in February and most of them are beautiful now. But 2 of the 'Aaron' and all 5 of the 'Pink Symphony' are just now doing anything. The 2 late 'Aaron' only now have those pointy nubs poking out of the soil and the 'Pink Symphony' all have their first leaf. Have any of you had trouble getting them to break dormancy? I know they need warm soil to sprout and our spring was cool, so I waited till late May to put them out. Since the majority are happy I'm wondering if there is anything I should do next spring to tweek them into breaking dormancy faster. Any suggestions welcomed. Thanks, Neal.

Call me crazy, but I swear, I only bought 1 net bag of caladiums this spring. They seemed to have tripled in volume and they did bloom and I did not pinch off the blooms.

We're lucky here inthat the ground never gets cold, so it doesn't take long for them to grow from bulbs. I even had one that was growing underneath a pot I had sat in the flowerbed. When I removed the pot, there was the little crunched up leaf just waiting. It grew, no problem after that.

Molly
:^)))

TERRIFIC, MollyMc! They're the Energizer Bunnies of the summer garden. =)

Heres a pic of one of my caladiums that musta snuck away to bloom...haha

JIM

Heres a pic of some of my cals trying to blend in with their bigger cousins....

JIM

I bought some this year to try. I've always thought there were gorgeous. I think one of mine has a bloom to. I never knew this either. I can't wait to see it open up.
:) Donna

MKJ...last year was my first year to venture into the world of Caladiums and, just like you, I was *amazed* when mine bloomed with that 'Peace Lily' (inconspicuous HA!) flower! They might now be as showy as other garden flowers...but I certainly wouldn't call them insignificant (as most information would tell us) by any means. :-D

But I did behave myself and pinch most of them off...*after* I took lots of pictures, that is. ;-)

~julie~

You're better than I, Julie........I only pinched them off like I was "supposed to" after they got all yucky looking. ;-) That was just so cool.........like you said, Peace Lily blooms!

MKJ

I planted some caladiums that are just coming up. One looks like it's sending up a bloom instead of its first leaf???? I've only seen this happen one other time and that was with Alocasia 'frydek'. I still don't understand why it would send a bloom up first. Now that I look at them, it looks like two are doing that. The tubers I planted are huge--at least 2 inches across.

MKJ....hehehehe (I like your style!)

EmilyR. :-O TWO inches across! The only tubers I've ever seen THAT big were ones I got from a great trade here at DG! The ones I bought were doing good to be HALF that size. (But that won't stop me from buying more next year. Maybe if I feed them *good* food they'll grow up to be like yours!)

~julie~

Here is a picture of mine with a bloom.
:) Donna

Donna, your leaves are very pretty and I like the bloom too.

As far as mondo tubers, hey, I still have more. In the pic below, each of those are in 3" saucers with the largest one over 3 inches long. I'm going to go pot them up right after this. I got these from a local nursery here. I have some smaller ones I got from the co-op earlier this year too.

Wow EmilyR! Those are huge! And what big, beautiful plants you have in store! Size really does matter with caladiums to. I received some nice big tubers in a trade that really out performed the smaller ones I had bought. They all look great now, but the larger ones grew bigger much faster, even though they were potted up 6 weeks later.

Ohhhhhh EmilyR...I'm green with envy! Those are monstrous! I think I'd be making my Rottie share her HiPro food with those...you know just to keep them big and strong! LOL

G.sage...how nice to see you here (too)! Thanks for that bit of info. I'll keep it in mind when I go looking for tubers in the future.

~julie~

I felt so guilty after I posted that I found all of my caladium tubers and planted them all. Some look a little too dry, so it will be interesting to see who all comes up to say "hi".

Another one of my larger tubers is putting out a bloom before its first leaf. I've seen this happen with other aroids such as Amorphophallus but didn't know caladiums behaved this way as well. I can't wait til they all come up!

"Guilty" ? Well, I do declare! You *should* feel guilty. LOL Those little puppies need to be growing...and multiplying so you can share them with US! ;-)

~julie~

Emily I may seem a bit audacious since I don't believe I have ever spoken to you before.......But Gracious, it's August and you are just now getting the rest of your caladiums put in?

They'll be ready to go to bed soon!

Molly
:^)))

Molly, yes, you are right, but better late than never, right? The growing season here extends until about mid-October so I think I'll get to see some pretty leaves before I have to pack them in for the year. I hadn't planted them yet as they looked kind of dried up so I don't even know if they'll come up. It's supposed to get into the 90's again this weekend so that should give them a boost. Summer started late here this year and it was about mid-July before daytime highs were consistenly in the 80's and it stopped raining.

This is the first bloom to open and I've noticed that each of the large tubers are sending up blooms along with the first leaves.

Here's the first leaf from the tuber that's currently "blooming" (or is it spathing?).

Too cool........still can't get over that they HAVE blooms. Been growing the things for years, and never noticed. =0

Your pic on the potty made me chuckle, emilyrasmus! ;-)

I've noticed quite a few people seem to take pictures of their plants on the toilet. They must have toilet trained plants....roflol!!
:) Donna

Maybe I could send my little Sammy to Plant Potty School? We're in the midst of training my youngest human..........;-)

The bathroom is the PP room (potty and plants).

See I told you it was the PP room.....lol.
:) Donna