I heard you talking about plants with bold leaves – as big as Elephant ears. What were they?
Pachyderm as in big leafy Elephant ears and Caladiums! Their bulbs or roots are planted in late spring, and then brought back inside for the winter. Or you can purchase the plants already growing! Now, for the big leafy Elephant ears, there are so many great selections today its unreal!
Colocasia:
‘Black Magic’ – dusty purple-black leaves that grow 2 feet long and gets 5-6’ tall
‘Mojito’ – with its green leaves and dark purple flecks
‘Big Dipper’ – purple black stems /grey green leaves held horizontally and can actually hold water from the rains, then dump the water when full.
‘Heart of the Jungle’ – with its black tinted dark green leaves
Xanthosoma:
‘Lime Zinger’ – lime green arrow leaves getting 2 feet long / plant gets 3-4 feet tall
Alocasia:
‘California’ – with rich green leaves with green veins / gets about 24-30 inches.
‘Borneo Giant’ – the king of them all / 7-10 feet tall with leaves up to 5 feet wide! Now that’s like a real elephant ear!
Caladiums: One of my favorite big leafed shady plants, and there are very few foliage plants that can hold a candle to color caladiums provide. They’re a living paint box of pigment and pattern. You’ll find just about every color in caladium leaves, and that makes them the perfect choice for lighting up that shady part of the garden. And the cool thing about these pachyderm plants – elephant ears and caladiums both grow great in the ground or in containers.
