Elephant Ears and Caladiums - Newbie Question

Although I am not a newbie gardener, this is the first year I have planted elephant ears and caladiums. I don't know why, I just never gave them a try before. All of them grew very well for me, now I have the big question: Do I have to dig them up and store them over the winter?

I live in South Carolina (Pee Dee Area) and although the winters are not that cold (we do have the occassional cold spell), the winter's are generally pretty mild. My mom lives in Hilton Head, and she keeps her caladiums in the ground all year without a problem....realizing, of course, she is on the coast.

The caladiums I have are really very pretty and I would like to save them for next year.

Thanks in advance for your help!

If you have the common, green Colocasia esculenta it should do fine with a bit of mulch even in zone 7a. 'Black Magic' is generally hardy to zone 7b with some mulch. Not sure about the others - it will vary a lot depending on soil conditions and your local microclimate. Caladiums are a lot more tender so I'd recommend digging those and keeping them in a cool, dry place over the winter.

i used to live in columbia, and there caladiums died, but not the EE's. now i live across the bridge from your mom, in bluffton, and both survive.

HostaLily,
I am in Conway which, as you know, is 60 miles from Florence. I have no problems with my EE but my Caladiums have never survived. This is a web site from Clemson Ext. that has always helped me with problems. See what we are doing wrong.
Good luck !
http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/hgic1160.htm

This message was edited Sep 15, 2008 10:00 PM

TomH....Thank you all for your help! I guess I will be digging up my caladiums. They really grew beautifully for me, and I am sad that I did not try them sooner.

1cros3nails4gvn......my aunt and uncle live in Sun City, I guess you are nearby! My mom lives on the Island in Longcove.

BSD..you are close! Sorry to hear about your mayor. Thanks for the link!

yep right down the road. my grandparents have a place on island in shipyard, so they're pretty close too.

My Caladiums have never made it through the winter. I haven't planted any in a while but the years I did they died off and didn't come back. EE's should be no problem. Where do you have your Caladiums Trent??? I'm surprised they didn't die off last winter.

For those who don't know Trent lives a few miles down the road from me.

Mine will live over too (and I live a few miles northeast of Corey and Trent) but only if I have them in a well drained spot. If they are in a soggy spot they will rot when the weather gets cool, it does not even have to freeze.

When I lived in Columbia I always lifted them and stored them in dry peat moss over the winter.

That might have been the problem with mine. I had them in a wet area.

well, they weren't mine but our friends landscaping people dug them up and threw them out in an empty lot where they rooted and have come up since then. they were making room for impatiens. the area was in a place with a canopy of pine and oak. maybe just a great microclimate??

There is a Master Gardener on HHI that has been collecting the "throw away" plants from the landscapers and relocating them to HH high school. If you haven't seen the campus lately, take a look. This fellow has planted more than 2000 plants/shrubs/trees that would have wound up in a landfill someplace. It really burns me when I hear about the landscapers just dumping plants.

That many??? I knew there was a group doing that but I didn't know it was on that scale. It is a waste when the hotels and plantations change over their landscaping and throw it out. I think most of it goes somewhere, I have some plants in my yard that were going to be thrown out. Hilton Head has a fairly big volume of plants that get ripped out by the seasons someone should get them organized. Simple as putting the plants in a pile and calling someone to come pick them up.

I just live 30 minutes away and I am lazy gardener never dug my caladiums up and they return every year. They have nice thick mulch layer over them too. Not sure what variety they are. They are also in full sun and survive.