I didn't plant my tropical beds out front this year.I put sod down and look whats showing up now!! Colocasia gigantea. Must have lived over winter and came up under the sod. I didn't plant them so whats da deal?? we are zone 5-b too cold to have these live over out in the open.
They decided they like your place better than where they was???...lol
Magic.
The news must be out to all homeless Zone 5b EE.
Go to Kyle's for some TLC.
Enjoy!
ROX
is an enigma...
well... congratulations.... the only way it would have over wintered there has got to be as a seed.. much too cool for a bit of plant to have made it.. I would think.. perhaps a bit of root... that was left in digging it up...that then went downbelow the frost line there... [do you know the frost depth where you are... ] I guess there was a flower that escaped you last year... what real help from that one...
Congratulations again... or perhaps I should be congratulating the plant...for exceptional fortitude................ surely an award winner..........................Gordon
So what are you going to do? Dig it and rescue it or leave it to see if it over winters again?
Eclipse
That is wonderful. I cant believe it came up in our zone. It must be very happy there.
I freeze line is 36" -40" That is along way down.
You know I have been lucky to have some annuals live through the winter several time. Like Dusty Miller they lived for 5 yrs before they finally died out. An annual ground cover that had white flowers for 5yr also and Coleus lived for 3yr in the same area. No luck sense then. Maybe its because our winters have not been to bad in last several years. So way to go. And happy gardening.
Got to grow them out...a new freeze tolerant EE?
Kyle, when did you put the sod down?
Migrating bird droppings, perhaps.
I put the sod down this spring In may, I didn't till the beds after digging things up last fall.So its possible the roots were still in the bed. Seed isn't an option because the plants never had set seeds. I'm the only one in a large area that I know of that grows this cultivar here.So the mystery continues... :-)
I would guess that roots survived and came back to visit you.
Linda thats what I'm leaning towards..
maybe a new cold hardy one
Well, according to Brian, He's successfully overwintered C. gigantea in Zone 6 without mulching before, so it is entirely possible yours made it with the mild winter we had last year.....
I think it is a wonderful surprise. Congrats!!!
I had sensetive plants growing along the edge of the sod from seeds from last year.....LOL what else will pop up?? LOL
I would consider Gigantea a zone 6 plant or higher if slightly protected I have tested it out for 4 winters and it has survived all winters in different areas and different protections. With out much they show up late and usually stay smaller and clumps of many plants if mulched you get very large plants mine are now around 6 feet tall. The trunks survived with a mulching of 8 inches hardwood mulch. After a few years in the ground it seems that mulching may not be needed as much but the first year is very important with all hardy tropical plants.
Brian, I'm gonna leave them where they are with just the sod over them for winter, if they come back next year OK if not well then we knew it was just our mild winter last year. Heck the ground hardly froze here it was so mild.
:-)
