Elephant ears

Lessons from a Dead Ear

| Flower Roberts

I keep seeing the empty spot where it should have been. (Under the left window)

I need to fill it in with something so I will quit chastising myself.

Frydek belongs there, but it is gone because of me.

Yes, I cried when it died. It was my fault, you see.

I am overprotective of everything, including my plants.

It is exhausting.

I used to dig up my ears and bring them all in to overwinter.

I thought they needed protection from freezing. Protection from rotting…

I do not do that anymore because of Frydek.

I brought them all in the fall of 2018. To keep them safe.

Frydek was dug first and put in the bottom of the barrel.

Layers of peat and paper were piled up in the barrel.

Ear, peat, paper, ear, peat, paper

Somehow water got in the barrel. Frydek was in the bottom.

Frydek rotted. Frydek died being protected.

I left all the ears out last fall. They all survived.

Frydek is gone. Its space is still here. All the other ears are here.

Reminding me that I need to quit over-mothering everything.

I will try to remember that because of Frydek.

Flow

https://floweralley.org/2018/08/04/a-new-leaf/

 

 

Ear Combo

| Flower Roberts

I planted Black Beauty Elephant Ear with Mojito Elephant Ear this year.

IMG_7753

I think the combination brings out the black patches in the Mojito’s leaves.

IMG_7751

These are planted beside one of the ponds and can be viewed from the deck above.

IMG_7763

I like this combo of ears.

IMG_7762

Flow

Saving My Ears

| Flower Roberts

Elephant ears are mostly water.

Mojito Elephant Ears Colocasia

So if they freeze, they turn to mush.

I let the frost kill the leaves, then I cut off the droopy parts.

I dig them up and haul them inside my already crowded workshop.

There are too many plants in there to get much work done,

but it’s a great place to go think and breathe.

Black Beauty came inside in its pot.

My Mojitos are in a box.

The Frydeks are in a bucket.

And YES, I did bring in those trouble causing Coffee Cups.

They are reclining in my lawn cart.

Flower has more heart than sense.

I must not end this post without a photo of the cutest ears of all.

Bunny ears.

Barley and Charlotte, New Zealand Lop Rabbits

FLOWER

 

My Five Ears

| Flower Roberts

I have five different Elephant Ears.

I lost my favorite this winter, but found a replacement at the Tropical Nursery in North Myrtle Beach. https://floweralley.org/2018/07/02/an-oasis-at-the-beach/

I got my first big green one decades ago ‘Caladium Esculentum.’ (name on tag?)

I love how these hold water and tip over when they get full.

Then I added some black ears. These get bigger with more water.

Next came my favorite Colocasia, ‘Mojito.’

Then the Coffee Cups.

I loved these until the caterpillars rained down poop into the cups. https://floweralley.org/2017/08/19/coffee-cups-caterpillar-crapper/

Now I have a new one, ‘Frydek’/ Alocasia micholitzana.

This one looks nothing like the label, so I do not trust this name. The leaf shape is the same, but the coloration is different.  This may be due to a difference in the amount of sunlight.

Five different ears with similar shape and different coloration.

I hope you appreciate my cutting my ears off for you.

FLOW van Gogh

 

Cover Your Ears

| Flower Roberts

Well actually, by now it is really cover your tubers.

Elephant ear leaves got bitten off by the first freeze.

Now, it is time to protect the mama tuber and her baby sidekicks(pups).

I sometimes dig some up to store inside my workshop, but since it is all ready full I am risking losing some of my Colocasia collection.

I did bring in some baby Coffee Cup /Colocasia escuelenta shoots earlier.

I only have one bunch of Mojitos now, so I covered them really well.

Be sure to not only mulch around the stems, but also between the stems.

There have been years when I did not mulch at all.

What usually happens is the big mama turns to pink mush, but some of the deeper baby tubers survive. These take years to get as big as they were previously.

Don’t forget your bananas. They should be in a ring of mulch also.

Cover your ears. Here comes winter.

FLOWER

 

Coffee Cups Caterpillar Crapper

| Flower Roberts

This is NOT how I intended this to turn out.

I have been very pleased with the new placement of Colocasia escuelenta/ Coffee cups/ West Indian Kale near the small fish pond.

IMG_2555

I intended to write a post about moving plants until you and the plant are both happy.

IMG_2560

Well, now there is a third party involved.

The oak tree above is full of munching little caterpillars.

If you look up, you see naked limbs.

IMG_3252

If you look down, you see feces.  Now the water in the cups has the color of coffee. Yuck!

IMG_3248

So thus the name of the post, in honor of Thomas Crapper of Chelsea. The owner of an early lavatory manufacturer in London.

IMG_3253

My OCD self keeps flushing the leaves with water.  No pun intended.

FLOW

 

Art on Every Leaf

| Flower Roberts

I love all Elephant Ears/ Colocasias.

IMG_2524

I have many varieties.

 

My favorite is Mojito.

IMG_2551

Every leaf is a different mosaic of blacks and greens.

IMG_2516

No two leaves are alike.

 

 

Even the tiny leaves have beautiful patterns.

IMG_2510

They thrive in shade or partial sun. They love water.

So lovely. So easy.

Mix it up with a Mojito.

IMG_2512

FLOWER