These have really grown since I planted them about 5 weeks ago! They were really tiny. Thanks for looking...Rose.
My elephant ears this morning.
One more!
Yes, I love these too. Here's mine. The plant is smaller, but the leaves may be bigger. Just planted it a couple of months ago too.
Here's mine...I really love them!
Notice that this is a nornal size lawn swing next to them
You could hide behind one of these leaves!
They are one of the few things that enjoyed our daily downpours earlier this month...
This message was edited Jul 22, 2007 2:33 PM
gardnerme and yardqueen...I love those big elephant ears! I will have to get pics of the ones I have planted in the front yard. Thanks for sharing your photos I just love seeing them....Rose
Yardqueen: I want my leaves to get as big as yours! Any secrets you want to share?
This is my first year growing these in pots. I love it cause I now have 9 pots of different ee's. What are you guys feeding yours? I hear they are heavy feeders.
Thanks
Joyce
I haven't fed mine since I planted them! I really think it is all the rain we had here. It rained so much we had water standing in places. They grew a lot then. And it may be the cultivar cause the lady that sent them to me said they would get really big. I wish I could tell you a secret to make them grow but I don't have one! LOL
Here is a shot I thought was cool
I took this picture yesterday and I think they are even bigger....
WOW! Those are some BIG EEs Yardqueen! Are these new bulbs or do you save them from year to year? Wait, you're in TX so I guess they stay in the pots/ground year round?
This is my 1st year to have them. I did get them in a trade last fall but I had them in the greenhouse all winter. I am going to have to look and see if this cultivar is hardy here. I will have to check with the lady I got them from. There are two other cultivars there but you have to look to see one of them. There are some that look like the big ones but they dont get as bif and then I also have the black stem ones in there. I know the black ones can stay out but I lost one EE in the greenhouse on the night it got to be 17* and it was too close to the door. I don't know about these either
or these
Oh Wow! Those are fantastic! Love them all! I cannot believe the size of your's YardQueen!
The ones I planted outside the pool cage are doing kind of crappy (too much sun I think), but the dwarf uprights I planted in containers are hanging in pretty good...Haven't got out of control but have filled in nicely.
Very Nice!!!!!
KatG, those in the pots are really great. I have a tall one like that. Do you know the name of yours? I bought mine at a flower show and I don't have the name any longer. I would love to get some to put out by my pond in pots.
Joyce
I'm really enjoying the pics, everyone. NICE! I love the persian shield intermixed with the ears, Joyce. Maybe KatG's are Alocasia Odora... they grow more upright/reaching toward the sky, ... Very nice urns! Here is a pic of Brian William's (briansbotanicals.net)Pink China w/caladium Thai Beauty. It is hardy to Zone 6 - I might try one next to the foundation here in zone 5b next year. I should have planted it in the ground, but I was planning on moving, now I'm not. It has put out runners and I'm letting them root right in the ground below the pot...
I noticed all of you being so excited about the plant. Growing up one side of the house was completely covered by it. It went rampant and took over that entire 10 by 25 ft section.. I remember my parent finally got tired of it and chopped down the entire section.. We still had it popping out of the ground for years afterwards... So, might want to keep that in mind..
Wow! Really Elephant ears in the ground, year round? In NY? - so cool- "went rampant and took over that entire 10 by 25 ft section" and popping out of the ground for years?? Just like a jungle! Gorgeous Hilo Beauty, too, Yardqueen. Here's Illustris - I left it in the pot in my basement last fall, barely watered all winter and it came back with a vengence! (Hoo-ray) This was a month or so ago, it is about to take over the pot. I need to thin it out a bit... grew some in my little pond, too...
AuntB. That was when I lived in Nor CA. Nice weather year round, warm. not too dry, etc. Think the Nor CA weather was too nice cuz the plant tried taking over that part of the yard pretty much...
Wow, I didn't think they would come back like that in NY, even if you have a micro-climate area.. Thanks for clarifying, Icosden. I traveled your lovely coast last spring, stopped over in Ferndale and then went down into the Redwoods, very very pretty!
Yardqueen,
How did you get your Persian Shields to do so well in all this Texas rain?!! Last summer, there WAS no rain (to speak of) and the humidity alone set up some terrible mealybugs on my beautiful Shield. I was devastated, cause it cost $$$$$. It is the one thing I long to add to my garden. Does yours do best in the shade or the sun?
AuntB. You miss the super gorgeous areas then.. Need to to got the Marin Headlands, Carmel and Napa. :)
AuntB...Love your elephant ears. I have mine in containers (as shown in the first and second posting) but I also have them in the front yard and they come back each year. Sometimes they come back really big and are just beautiful and some years not so big. Depends on the weather...I didn't think they would come back at all in this area. I'm always happy to see them sprout in the Spring.
Icosden I remember when I lived in So Cal all the tropical plants year round. Very different where I live now.
Gymgirl,
I have only had the PS for a couple of months and so far so good. I haven't had any trouble with mealy bugs so far. I have had some aphids but not on my PS. They are in the shade, and doing fine. I have not grown them before this year so I don't know that much about growing them in other areas of my yard. I wanted some for a while now and I was at Lowes and saw some so ....Well you know what happens.... lol
You saw them and HAD to buy them, huh? Wha? I don't do that!!! lol (I'm so weak, I'll buy em just because they look healthy!), sure, I can fit a few more in somewhere. lol I've enjoyed PS in containers for about 3 years now. I have had them in full sun and dappled shade. I think they grew taller in sun, but in dappled shade they are more vibrant. I will try them in full shade next year. No bug problems, really. I sent some cuttings to a DG'er last fall, she said you could root them in water. I use like an annual. WHEN I get my greenhouse, I may try it. dellrose, I have just a few in the ground, most are in containers here, too. I visited Brians Botanicals and his are in the ground, dug and brought inside in Fall and are HUGE. I do need to amend my clay soil, but I want to try his Pink China and now that you say you leave them in the ground I will try them too! I can't dig, myself, so I have a family friend that helps me. The more I can leave in the ground, the better. I bring so much in for winter, well my friend and my son lug em (bless their hearts). Just beautiful dellrose, love that up close shot! Wow! dellrose, your thread has had over 300 views! Come on you lurkers, post your e ear pics.. please?
AuntB I think because of our weather and this awful clay soil they just don't grow in the ground like they did in So Cal...but I'm just learning since I joined Daves. But I am very happy with the way the EE's have come up every year and they fill up around the front of the house so nicely this time of the year. I don't dig anything up for the winter but this is the first year that I have had the time to concentrate on what is going on in my yard. In the past all my energies were devoted to our dairy herd....a full time job and a half for us two old folks.
The chair in that last pic I posted is my "retirement" chair...although I don't spend much time in it it is something I bought myself when we sold our business.
Looky what I found on my Butterfly Weed a few days ago. I believe it is a Monarch Cat and he is just munching away like crazy!!
Have a great day...I am going to my favorite junk store today to buy more junk!
It is a very pretty chair, to bad it doesn't get used more! Sure looks inviting. Hope I get a chair like that- one I won't use after I "retire". What is the "rock" plant holder? Hypertufa? Cool!
Junk? Art, Rose, it's Art. lol Have fun and let us know what goodies you find.
I'm going to amend (the boys will) the soil where I plant them (the ee's) with lots of cotton boll mulch, some sand and cow manure. See how they like that.
AuntB...that "rock" plant holder is the cement that came off the bottom of an old corner post. Now I am on the hunt for more of them. I know they are out there somewhere...just can't remember where I've seen them. After seeing the threads on the Hypertufa I am very anxious to try and make some of those too.
The reason I don't spend more time in my chair is 'cause every time I sit in it I notice something that needs to be deadheaded, repotted, moved or weeds that need to be pulled. You know what I'm talking about...lol.....Rose.
Oh, yes I do. I'm always picking and snipping and rearranging. It's all part of the fun! We need some garden fairies. We could point to things that "need" done and they would do them perfecly to our liking. Then we could warm up our chair cushions! lol