Elephant ears

[amid chaos]

Anyone have one? Think I'm going to go find one and pot it so I can bring it in to winter.

 

[Mamu]

Hi Amid I have never grown them, but I bought a package of 5 bulbs this spring.

If the size of the bulbs are any indication of the size of these plants. I think I'm going to need a new garden. lol!

I potted one bulb up for the water garden. See how it grows there. The other four I think I'm going to plant in a pot. I know they need to come-in in the winter they are not hardy in our area.

I think I need to read up on them though not sure how they will do once I take them indoors.

 

[TigH]

I have a ton of them! They grow like weeds in our back yard. Last fall I chopped them all down so we could see into the woods. I thought that was the end of them once and for all, but they are coming back stronger now! I think I will just have to relocate them to a place in the yard where they won't block my view.

 

[olena]

So they'll do well in shade and sun both?

 

[Tulirose]

I've had a houseplant for years, passed down to me by MIL that I *call* Elephant Ears, but don't really know for sure if that is what it is. I tried searching the web for a picture with no luck. I'm real curious about this. A lady at work just told me she bought Elephant Ears to plant outside and on a local garden forum, someone else also mentioned they are planting the same! So, if anyone can post a picture or come up with a link for this plant with a picture, I would be most appreciative. Thanks.

 

[TigH]

I think they do well in sun or shade. Ours were growing on the edge of the woods in our back yard. They got the morning sun and then were in shade the rest of the day.

A great resource for tropical and semi tropical plants is http://www.floridata.com

From the menu on the left, click on plant reference, then click on search if you know the name of the plant you are looking for. I searched on ELEPHANT and got two results. The giant elephant ear is the one that we have growing wild in our yard. A search on ELEPHANT EARS came up with nothing.

I'll try to post the picture that came up on the site!

<img src="http://www.floridata.com/ref/A/images/aloc_ma2.jpg">

Hope that works!

 

[olena]

Holy cow, TigH! My parents have planted them in their yard for years, but they never got THAT big. Talk about gollywhoppers!

Chris wants me to plant some beside the house.

 

[Tulirose]

HOLY TOLEDO!!! (Not what I REALLY wanted to say!)
That is SOME plant!

 

[olena]

We bought a flat of them yesterday.....woo hoo....

Looks like I've got some digging to do.......

 

[Lanshark]

I bought 3 of the biggest bulbs I could find last year. They were the size of a softball. They are all coming up and I'm anxious to see how big they get. I had a neighbor who had one about the size of the above picture. I wouldn't have believed it if i hadn't seen it.

 

[TigH]

Ok, my Dad will kill me if he finds out I did this!

Here is a link to a picture of my dad pretending he is naked behind some elephant ears (trust me, he has a tank top and shorts on!) This was taken at our house last year on the fourth of July. Since then I have cut back ALL of the elephant ear, but it is starting to grow back. It gets very big here! When we bought the house, we had maybe two elephant ears growing wild out back. They quickly multiplied. Now that I've hacked it all down, there are about 50 baby plants coming up.

You can't see it in the picture, but we have had to do alot of cutting back of everything. Once I get the new landscape in the back yard started and looking good, I will create a page of before and after pictures.

Ok, here is the picture!

http://www.rossandkaren.org/p0005896.jpg

 

[Tulirose]

Enjoyed the picture of your dad TigH. Don't worry, I won't tell him that you posted it on a public internet site!!!

 

[Snowwark]

Great picture TigH....LOL! Those leaves are HUGE!!!

.....we won't tell!

 

[amid chaos]

He seems like a fun guy Tigh...great picture.

 

[Mamu]

I had to go back and find this thread. 5 weeks ago I planted these bulbs. Was wondering if they were ever going to grow. Low and Behold yesterday I finally saw a small green shoot. I'm very excited.

 

[Snowwark]

From the look of the pictures, it's not going to stay small for long Mamu!

 

[olena]

I planted six total They're all growing fine. Here's one...

 

[amid chaos]

I dug it up yesterday,.....nada....nothing.... zippo

 

[olena]

I found this to be interesting. Everything I read on elephant ears indicated that it's a house plant. Huh?

They grow fine in the ground around here. Maybe it's the climate.

I'm sorry yours is having problems, amid. I wouldn't give up hope yet though. I was about to give up on many of my stargazers and they're slowing shooting out. So maybe you'll see the elephant ears before too long.

 

[Jiminy102]

WE have these all over our yard. I thought they were weeds. WE can't seem to get rid of them. They are all around the back of the house inbetween the patio blocks!! Anybody want them come and get them!!!