In one of the posts, we started talking about the harsh winter and lamenting the loss of some of our tropicals.
Well, I thought I had lost my Colocasia Pink China, but sure enough today I noticed 3 new pups in the ground.
I'm barely zone 6a and this winter and spring were incredibly harsh on my plants.
But...seems like Pink China really can endure here. Imagine a perennial tropical in Ohio!
ROX
I was wrong...C. Pink China returns!
Good fortune smiled at you this year. Must be growing in a well protected area to survive your winter. I get cold just thinking about it.
I would love to see it, got a photo from last year? I did an image search and a PlantPiles look see, no mention of this plant.
I am a big fan of unusual EE>
Here's a pic. By the end of the season it had several pups and was about 2.5 feet tall.
Beautiful EE. A. Macro variegata? Mine are tiny.
Perennial EE's in Ohio, surprise! And I see another stem behind it?
My EE is touchy even here in a very warm climate. Mine is a true tropical EE. It declines every winter and will not survive in the ground except in a well protected southern exposure. Even with a perfect setting it comes back very small. Mine does not make a tuber like some other kinds of EE's.
Here's some in a local park>
Those look like Xanthosoma Sagittifolia. I hear they can get really big leaves!
In the past a few EE I forgot to pull out the ground have made it back, C. Fontanesii and plain old C. esculenta.
Overwintering this year was a nightmare. Hot then cold then hot. Many of the plants broke dormancy early and just exhausted themselves.
The purple stem behind it is another EE. I intermix my tropicals in my perennial beds.
From left to right(top): C. Fontanesii, A. macrorrhiza, C. Fontanesii
From left to right(bottom): C. red stem; C. Chicago Harlequin, C. Pink China, C. Big Dipper
I like C. Fontanesii the best, those purple stems really catch the eye. I like to mix purple and green foilage in ground covers and that EE has it all in one package.
I used to live up north in 4b for a couple decades and was always amazed at the touble people went thru with cannas, agapanthus and other non hardy plants to grow in their beds. I was always happy with a couple lilacs, a peony or two and some marigolds from seed for summer.
I was going to use Dale_a_lazy_gardener as my screen name, but it was too long. I had also considered Slacker_gardener, but wanted to use my first name. Makes me wish they had made the dialog box wider.
This EE runs wild here, along streams and rivers, even in wet ditches by the highways.
Xanthosoma sagitofolia (SP?)--I have read it is invasive in FL. Just started a couple I got in trade this year, but I doubt they will be problematic here in NC. Very pretty bluish leaf color.
One of my favorite Xanths is Violaceae. It has beautiful purple stems and bluish-green leaves.
I love the Fontanesii too. I actually won the largest colocasia leaf with it last summer (remember BWilliams' challenge). By the end of the season it was 7.5 feet tall and 6 feet wide.
ROX