I've not grown these before. What would they look nice with in a pot?
Thanks,
Gwen
Companion plants for caladium
Gwen, I love caladiums and put them everywhere. You will love them in pots or the in beds.
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Very pretty!
Well, I was just dissuaded from buying them as someone said we don't have a long enough growing season. I was going to order tubers from a coop.
I notice you're in a similar zone to mine but perhaps you have a longer growing season. It really doesn't warm up here (air temp in the 70s) til after 4th of July and then our cold weather returns by October. Our summers are mild with mostly 70s and then some 80s in August.
what do you think?
gwen
They look good with just about anything. Don't be afraid to let the non-white ones get some sun. The red ones can take quite a bit. Just keep them well watered. I like to pair them with other foliage plants like coleus or sweet potato vine, as well as flowering annuals where the bloom color is a good complement to the color(s) in the caladium. If you are growing them from bulbs - hint - de-eye them. Find the dominant emerging eye (like on a potato) and carefully cut it out, without cutting too deep. The result is more foliage.
They should do fine in pots. If you were going to put them in the ground then the soil temps have to be 60 degrees or they will rot. As long as the soil temps are no cooler than 60 in your pots then everything would be fine. Many times I start them indoors in late March and they're ready to go outside by April 15, which is normally our last frost date.
Maybe someone else closer to you has had some experience with them. But I have to tell you, if they grow for you....you'll always want them in years to come. I just love them so much!!! The best part is that they never have disease or bugs!
Very interesting Victor! Thanks for the tip. I've read they shouldn't be started unless you can provide 70 degrees - as some heating mats may offer. I like them in pots just by themselves.
This is what I just found:
Propagation
Nurseries and garden centers offer caladiums as potted plants or dormant tubers. Tubers are available in four different sizes based on diameter and are priced accordingly. Tuber sizes are classified as mammoth (3 ½ inches and up), jumbo (2 ½ to 3 ½ inches), No. 1 (1 ¾ to 2 ½ inches), and No. 2 (1 ¼ to 1 ¾ inches). Large tubers have more leaf buds than smaller tubers and, therefore, make a larger foliage display.
Each caladium tuber has a large, central bud surrounded by several small buds. If the large, central bud is allowed to grow it will prevent the small buds from growing and producing leaves. Use the tip of a sharp knife to lift out the large, central bud, being careful not to injure any of the surrounding small buds. De-eyeing will stimulate the production of a greater number of, but slightly smaller, leaves.
Culture
Caladiums grow best in the partial shade of open, high-branched trees. They will perform reasonably well in full shade, but the color may not be as outstanding. Caladiums traditionally needed protection from full sun for best growth and color, but some of the newer cultivars tolerate exposure to full sun for a couple of hours daily. Most pink-leaved caladiums develop a brownish, scorched appearance when grown in sun.
Caladiums require a warm, moist soil. A minimum soil temperature of 70 oF is preferred. If planted too early in the spring, cool soil temperatures will cause tubers to rot before they sprout. Some gardeners prefer to start tubers indoors in moist peat moss or potting soil in containers such as a shallow flat or flower pot. Barely cover tubers with soil and place the container in a warm room with bright light. Tubers should be started indoors approximately four weeks before planting outdoors.
For best growth, plant caladiums in well-drained soil with a pH between 6.0 and 6.5. A 2- to 3-inch layer of pine bark mulch or compost should be incorporated into the soil to improve soil aeration, drainage, and organic matter content. Root and foliage growth will be limited unless the soil is well aerated. Also, incorporate a complete fertilizer such as 8-8-8 at a rate of 1 to 2 lb per 100 ft2 of bed area (2 Tbsp per ft2). Plant tubers 2 inches deep and 8 inches apart for small tubers and 12 inches apart for large tubers. Both roots and shoots emerge from the top of the tuber; place the knobby side up.
Yes - number one tip - don't plant too early! They are truly tropical, love the heat and humidity and definitely will rot in cold, damp soil.
Here's a simple window box from a couple of years ago. The pink blooms of the impatiens actually looked better next to the caladium than the photo shows.
We use a lot of caladium here too.
Beautiful combination Dale! Great color combinations and lush plants. Who could ask for more?
Dale, what is that dark green plant in the background with the long thin leaves?
Gwen
I'm just guessing that it's some type of palm.
It is a plam, Phoenix reclinata, from mainland Africa. -http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/54802/index.html
Oh, well, just slightly larger than the potted arrangement I was envisioning.
Gwen
More caladium?
Wowsers - that is gorgeous!
Gwen
Here is a caladium (humholdi) specie that can stand alone.
Here is a ginger (to zone 8 in the ground) Globba schomburgkii that goes well with caladiums.
dale - you do beautiful work with plants and with your camera. What is the name of the caladium #3204151? Thank you.
Caladium humboldii-rarely seen even here in the caladium capitol of the USA (FL).
Caladium lookalike, I don't remember it's name.
Thank you.
Oh Dale, the name of your lookalike it right on the end of my tongue. Shoot! I hope someone else comes along with the answer. I just love the looks of them......
I absolutely love Caladiums :)
Here are some pictures from last year:
I like to grow them with day-lilies and esperanza, it's a nice contrast.
I grow them with hellebores and ferns. I need the color in my shade bed. No cool pictures, like Dale_a
That was interesting about removing the central bud on the tuber, Pirl. I never knew that. I wonder if you put rooting hormone on the nub you dig out if it would root and make a baby?
They are unlike anything else I grow because of the high heat required - no refrigeration necessary to keep them from sprouting like dahlias, for example. I just checked on them and they were layered in Miracle Grow potting soilless mix straight from the bag (slightly damp), in a kitchen plastic garbage bag, and left open, but folded over on a shelf at 62°. They are firm and ugly, just like they should be. I could start them on the heat mat right now, but I am fast running out of space under lights and I have a lot of these tubers. Bummer.
Interestingly, when I harvested them, I noticed they were the same size as what I planted in spring. I wonder why they weren't bigger? I gave them every advantage in life and catered to their every whim!
(I have never kept them over before, so don't take that as directions on how to store them over winter until winter is over!)
Suzy
This message was edited Feb 25, 2007 6:11 AM
Interesting thought, Suzy. I don't know what would happen with the bud that's removed - maybe it needs the content of the tuber to grow? It's a good thought and worth a try.
Despite what the pro's say I do try and hold them over winter but always buy more for the "just in case" scenario, which always seems to happen. Some do grow but I guess I have only myself to blame - I must keep them cooler than they want.
I'd love for someone to post and tell us how the big bulbs get as big as they do. I wonder if it's just a case of being left in the ground for an additional year or two.
I just buy the jumbo bulbs.....???? Plus we are in zone 9 and they get big anyway..Doesn't dale have the finest pics in the world.....
YES!
I will be growing my first ones this year...I have enjoyed looking at all your photos; thanks for the ideas. I have 2 bags of assorted tubers (60 total) and have no idea what they'll look like! :)
They should be beautiful. Please post photos.
You bet I will!
Illoquin (Suzy),
You remove the central bud and the bulb makes several smaller buds. More leaves, usually smaller at first, then they grow up. The bud you remove will dry up, has no energy stored.
I suspect the reason your bulbs don't increase in size is because your climate is cool. It cools down too fast in the fall for them. In their native range it begins to get dry (stays warm) and they start to store starch for next seasons growth. They are tropical bulbs and I would guess that they are from an area that has a seasonal dry spell. I am not sure where they started, but, they are grown world wide now.
RE: The size of a Caladium Bulb
There are several factors in determining how big a Caladium bulb will get.
Temperature, nutrients and soil conditions are the biggest factors.
When the farms plant their fields(they begin about the 2nd week of April) they are planting pieces of a bulb. The process begins like this. The farms will take a tray of bulbs and do a process called cooking the bulbs, they basically submerge a tray full of bulbs(usually Grade #2 and Grade #3 size bulbs) into water that is 120 degrees for about 20 minutes, that serves two purposes, it kills any parasites and nematodes that are on the bulb and it also softens them up a little. They then take the bulbs and put them in a machine that looks similar to a cement mixer except that it has alot of big knives spinning around. The bulbs are chopped up into pieces and those pieces are what's planted. That piece is about the half the size of your pinkie. Over the course of the year that planted piece will grow. The bulbs you're buying this year were planted last year. The farms begin digging up bulbs around the first of November. A bulb you plant this year will produce a beautiful plant!, next year however the bulb will not be as big, they actually shrink in size as they get older, from one year to the next. It'll still produce a nice plant, it just won't be as nice as the first year.
The farms have had a great harvest this year and there are alot of Jumbo and Grade #1 bulbs available. Some fields will produce nothing but Jumbo's and #1's and another field might produce #1's and #2's They need it because the hurricanes in 2004 put a real hurting on several of them. A couple farms went out of business.
Bill
Thanks for the good information, Bill. Now we can stop blaming ourselves. Is there a best way for us to keep them for another season? Any special food or soil amendments that might help? Thanks in advance.
I start my caldiums in the house under lights because we have such a short season. I love them potted with asparagus ferns. I don't seem to be able to find my pics right now.
Here's what I'm going to try. First I cancelled my order, then reordered cuz I really wanted them! I have a cold greenhouse but I do have heated thingies that are like little shallow beds of sand covered with plastic and they have heat coils running thru them. So I'm going to pot the caladiums up and put them on the heated pads until it's warm enough to transfer them outside, where they'll remain in pots. I'm hoping that early warm start on the heat pads will give them a longer growing season and a good start. I've never grown them before, so we'll see.
Gwen