Why I Oughta...

A brief, visual update on a few of the Elephant Ear bulbs that I planted in the landscape as bedding plants - lending a tropical vibe to the garden (underneath the kitchen windows).  I last posted about these in July when the foliage was just showing up and unfurling .  Here, below is what they look like currently - in early/mid September.  Some of the leaves are REALLY big. Are they the largest leaves we've ever had?  I'm not sure, but they sure look like the largest - compared to these previous giants .   The bulbs in the corner container are growing big leaves, too.  See below: Next year, I'd like to try the black-stemmed version that I spotted at the Morton Arboretum earlier this Summer, but if I can't find those, I'll still turn to these traditional Esculentas as I've made them a 'seasonal' addition to our garden - in both containers and in the ground.  Maybe next year they'll go over by the Disneyland Roses to fill in some of those gaps, too.

I've covered the Elephant Ear bulbs that I planted in some of our patio containers already , but after gifting a few of them, I had two remaining.  What did I do with them?  I stuck them in the ground amongst some 'escaped' strawberry (that I'm using as groundcover) and Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grasses.  See below for these two tropical annuals that have popped up in our landscape: #25 on my annual to-do list was to use 'annuals beyond the container' .  I'd say that this counts, right?   What have I learned?  First...that these probably aren't a perfect fit in this area.  At least by themselves.  But....that doesn't mean that I can't plant them somewhere else, right?  Or, augment/expand this bed and plant some other colors at their feet?  Something to think about for next year.  The other thing to think about?  Those sexy black-stemmed version that they have at the Arboretum .  Upgrade to those, right? 

I had to pick up one of the kids at the Morton Arboretum recently had had a little bit of time to get some steps in and decided to go see the Fragrance Garden up by the Thornhill Center on the West side of the Arboretum .  It is a spot where you can park pretty close and get to see some beds and containers on a quick little, easy walk.  A couple of years ago, I was in this same garden and posted some thoughts and photos here .  At that time, I was struck by the bedding plants and combinations they had in what felt like a very shady garden (which...is a lot like our own garden).    It was from that experience that I said (to myself) that I needed to think about using annuals beyond the container - as bedding plants - in the shade.  In fact....that was one of my 2023 to-do items and the push behind all of the annuals that I planted this year including some Lobelia, Begonias, Impatiens, Polka Dot Plants .  The beds at the Morton Arboretum have inspired me prior to that shade garden visit.

Like (almost) every previous growing season, I planted some Elephant Ear bulbs in our containers in an attempt to add a (slightly) tropical vibe to our patio.  These bulbs come from Longfield Gardens and are carried by Costco each Spring.  This year, I put a couple in both the wood box at the corner of the patio and the larger, glazed container.  And, both of them have put up leaves that are getting bigger by the day.  See below for first the wood container followed by the glazed one.  I'll monitor these for size - here's the mark to beat leaf-size-wise (from 2021) .

I've been TRYING to do more with tropicals outside over the years.  One of them that I've had the MOST success with - in multiple years - are what I call "Elephant Ears".  Colocasia.  I've grown them in containers a few times and even had some pretty big (or so I thought!) ones like this one in 2021 .   The folks at The Growing Place sent out an email that included some new/interesting plants for 2023 and it included a look at a Colocasia .  But...not just any.  This one is "gigantea".  It is also know as the 'Thailand Giant'.   Below is a photo showing this giant elephant ear off via The Growing Place ( Source ): That sure is...something.   Pretty big.  Walters Garden has this to say : To say that this plant will dwarf any plant you already own would be putting it mildly! ‘Thailand Giant’ is much larger than C. gigantea. Its glaucous green leaves can measure a whopping 5' long x 4' wide each. Full grown plants typically reach 9ft tall,

It isn't much, but I'm going to allow it.  Allow what?  Allow myself credit for planting a (new to me) tropical in the landscape.  That means checking the box on #14 of my 2022 to-do list:  Expand my use of tropicals and sub-tropicals in the garden .  Historically, I've only utilized Elephant Ear bulbs as tropicals in my containers and a few in the ground.  This year, I wiffed on those (indeed a miss), but I did recently plant a tropical in the garden - in one of the beds.   Below, you can see the lone Canna - Canova Bronze Peach - that I planted in the backyard in a spot that is visible from the patio and kitchen windows.  I was at the orange big box nursery last week picking up a few other annuals for our front yard and back patio and I just took a shot with this peachy canna.   I'm thinking that I should have done a few more of these?  One seems like it isn't enough - and it is a direct violation of one of the gardening 'mistakes' that we've talked a

Back in Spring, I planted a bunch of Colocasia esculenta corns in containers and even one in the patio-adjacent bed in our backyard.  I've grown them a number of times and I like the tropical vibe they lend to some of our larger containers.  Here's some from 2018 .  Some from 2019 .  I've also remarked about their trippy, almost hallucinogenic pattern on the top-side of the leaves .   This year, I think I've grown my largest plant that I've ever had in our containers.  Below, you can see the size of one of the leaves - my hand for reference.  Note:  I don't have tiny hands like our former president.  I *think* mine are normal.  I have to do more reading up on tropicals (and sub-tropicals) in containers - because every time I use one like these, I like it in our patio containers.  More to come on that - and something that I think I should put on my 2022 to-do list :  using more tropicals and sub-tropicals in my garden.

I've planted Elephant Ear bulbs in some of our patio containers over the years including in 2018 and 2019 with middling success.  I've been drawn to them for their large leaves and tropical feel - as well as their seemingly limited maintenance needs.  A little water and they figure it out on their own. So, when Nat brought home some hostas and purple astilbes from Costco in March, she also grabbed this bag of nine Esculenta Elephant Ear bulbs.   As I've found in the past, not all of the bulbs in the bag are viable.  I always find a few that have rotted out.  This year was not different.  But, I still ended up having more Elephant Ear bulbs that I really needed.   I started by planting one in the wooden patio planter box.  Here it is in the corner: And, I have a couple of wine barrel planters that are scattered in the landscape that I stuck a viable bulb and some of the rotten ones in.  Who knows, right?  Maybe they'll make it?  Here's one of them in the wine bar

Just like I did last year, I planted a few Elephant Ear bulbs in containers on our back patio.  I like the way they add a little bit of tropical interest and large leaf contrast to the pots and I think that I'll likely continue to add them (or something like them) going forward because this is the second year that I've had success with them.  Above (and below), you can see the first of our ordinary Colocasia start to unfurl.  I also planted a blackstem variety, but I don't remember which container that was in and I'm *pretty sure* that this isn't it.  At least...the stem isn't currently black, ya know? Here's a look at similar Elephant Ears in a container on our back patio last Summer (2018) .  And here's a peek at all of our containers from our back patio last July .  If/when the Black Stem Elephant Ear makes an appearance, I'll post a few photos.    

Last year I added some tropical flair to our patio containers by planting a series of elephant ear bulbs in the pots.  They complemented various flowers and we mostly had good luck with them.  Here's a look at the bulbs - 12 of them - that went in .  I ran out of room in containers, so I put a couple in the ground, too!  By July, they were starting to help fill in our containers .   By August, they were in full form and provided a beautiful, almost trippy look in our containers .  I was really happy with them and figured I'd use them again in our containers.  So, I picked up this three pack of standard Elephant Ear bulbs.  These are smaller than the ones we put in last year, so perhaps the leaves will be smaller?  But, why just redo what we did last year, right?  I had one "Black Magic" Elephant Ear in a container with some Night Queen Mini Dahlias last year and it seemed to grow nicely despite being constrained for space.    This year, I wanted somethin

I've posted a few times about the green-leafed Elephant Ear bulbs that I planted in a few pots on our patio this Summer.  In May, I posted a few photos of the bulbs that we picked up to try. Then, in July, I posted a progress photo that showed how the ones in one of our wine barrels had grown pretty significantly and were happy.  Today, in mid-August you can take in these leaves that are quite striking.  This is a #nofilter photo, so I didn't tweak or play around with the colors or saturation.  This is what you see with your eye, too.  Up until this point, I was pretty confident that I'd do Elephant Ear bulbs again next Spring in my containers, but seeing them change and have the two-toned green/yellow leaves begin to show up solidifies the decision:  I really like these and will do them again.  I think I'll rethink the containers and placement and likely put them in the middle or "back" of some larger containers to use their scale in a more effec

Right before we went out of town for a few days recently, I gathered all of our patio containers and put them together in order to assist the watering - which was being done by one of our neighborhood kids.  I snapped this photo of all of them in one spot to text to Nat to share with the girl's Mom so she knew what needed to be watered, but I figured I'd post it here to mark what our patio containers looked like in July of this year. In the far back, in the yellow pot 1 you can see the Chicago-hardy fig tree 2 that my Sister Vic and Equation Boy/Man gave me for my birthday this year.  Right in front of that is one of my wine barrel planters with a grapevine 3 growing on the trellis.  That's also the pot that has the Lemon Coral Sedum growing in it . In front of that wine barrel, but mostly obscured is my large basil plant.  It is sharing a pot with one of my Elephant Ears .  Then, buried under the foliage is the other wine barrel planter.  That's this one wi

Back at the beginning of May, I posted about how I was trying some elephant ear bulbs in our containers this season after picking up a pack of nine of them .  Above, is one of my wine barrel containers that I have out on the back patio with - as you can see - some very happy Elephant Ears.  You can also see the wine barrel trellis that I embedded in the wine barrel with a first-year clematis vine growing up the back.  (I'll try to post about the trellis in a different post.  I have two of them that are both hosting first-year plants that, I *hope* will come on strong next year and we'll be able to use the trellises as screening material in a meaningful way.) I have to say that I *LOVE* these elephant ears and the real tropical feel they lend to our pots.  I now have them in a few - including the Black Magic variety I planted with some Dahlias - and I know that I'll do them again next year.  I believe there is likely some way to salvage and reuse the bulbs each season,

There's this house in Nat's parent's neighborhood that has a really well-manicured landscape out front.  And that's due to the owner (I think?) of the house that seems to be tending to the yard, plants and landscape almost constantly.  The reality of it is that we mostly go by Nat's parent's house on weekends so it might just *seem* like he's constantly in his yard because that's how he likes to spend his weekends.  Either way, he does an incredible job.  He has topiary'd evergreens (junipers, I think?) and he also has quite a bit of what appear to be tropicals outside.  But, upon closer inspection, I think A LOT of what I've thought to be tropicals are giant elephant ears.  And, so those have been on my mind and when I was at Menards earlier this Spring, I came across a couple of different varieties and - of course - snapped them up. I posted late in March the "Black Magic" bulb that I started in a pot inside .  That has moved o

Just a little over a week ago, I posted the first peek of little sprouts of Dahlias and Elephant Ears poking through the soil in a pot that I started in our dining room.  Welp, fast forward a week and we suddenly have a lot of growth from three shoots.  But, I'm pretty sure that I planted four bulbs/tubers.  Three Firebird semi-cactus Dahlias and one Elephant Ear Black Magic .   The three plants that have grown all look alike, so I'm presuming that these are the Dahlias.  But, the Elephant Ear is missing.  Perhaps a little bit of excavation is called for to figure out if the Elephant Ear is, indeed, down there (or if I forgot to plant it!) and/or if something is wrong.  Maybe I planted it too deep? My hunch is that the bulb is still simply dormant - and that's not an uncommon problem based on a quick tour around the Web - and that with time, it will come up. 

Back in Mid-March, I posted about some dahlia tubers and Elephant Ear bulbs that I picked up at Menards.  Along with the kids, I ended up planting some of them in this big terracotta pot and got it started early in our dining room (which gets the most southern exposure).  In the photo above, you can see the early shoots emerging from the soil.  This is two Firebird semi-cactus dahlias and one Elephant ear bulb that make up the three plants you see.  As I've said before here on the blog, I've had very little luck with dahlias, so these are hopeful signs for this gardener.  Once we get past the freeze/frost date this Spring, I'll move this pot outside to the back patio so it can get full sunlight.  I'll also add some 'spill' to the pot once the garden centers start to have their annuals to fill out the pot.

Here's the last in a series (for now) of posts showing of some of the tubers/bulbs that I picked up on a trip to Menards.  First there was the "Night Queen" mini Dahlias .  Then I posted about the semi-cactus Firebird large Dahlias .  Today, I'm posting a photo of another perennial bulb that's an Elephant Ear.  "Black Magic" variety.  Colocasia Esculenta to be specific.  I stuck this one bulb in the large pot along with one of the Dahlias and based on the description, this one will grow quite tall - with leaves that are 7-9".  As you can see at the top of the photo, it references a 36" plant height, so that's what I'm aiming for this season.   And what drew me to it was the whole "Black Magic" purple thing going on.  I've historically grown purple sweet potato vines as the 'spill' in our pots and I like the color they add in a sea of green. You can find out much more about this particular plant over on the Mis