Hi folks, just thought I'd post you the latest pic of the now correctly ID'd Colocasia as it's taking over the greenhouse! Plus there's a baby growing alongside. Think this must be a 'MAMMOTH ELEPHANT EAR'. Good job it's in a relatively smallish pot as goodness only knows how big it would get otherwise?! I didn't think I would get to sprout so I put it in the only spare pot that would accommodate the corm at the time....think I may have to go 'pot-shopping' pretty soon! Gill.

I love your Thai Giant. I used milorganite on my plumeria and brugs the last few years and they did really amazing. This last year I didn't use it. I can really see the difference with last few years they got monsterous and bloomed nonstop. This year they are not blooming near as much. I got a few seedpods on my Mojito this year. I don't know what they are crossed with or if it pollinated itself. One other colocasia you might like is Maui Magic. It has a purplish black shiny leaf and is very vigorous. Xanthosoma atrovirens (mickey mouse taro) the varigated form, is really pretty. I also like alocasia 'Stingray' that looks like little stingrays. I found them very tender (we got down to 17 last year) so protect them well.

Ibis, I am very concerned about invasive plant species, and know all too well about the extreme harm they are causing to befall many native plant communities. That said, category 2 is way, way down on the list of actual problems, in my opinion. So, just because somebody saw a plant "escape" into the wild somewhere, that doesn't even necessarily mean it's causing a problem. I might get heck for saying this, but so be it. I actually think we are doing ourselves a disfavor by putting one ounce of concern into something like that, when, say, Malaleuca or Braz, pepper just rolls on and on, destroying woodlands all over the S. of your state. Same way up here....we've got things like common buckthorn just plain destroying any chance of regeneration in infected woodlands, yet somewhere, there's somebody crying about a patch of daylilies or some such item growing in a ditch somewhere. Not even on the same planet in terms of actual problem. Again, I could be wrong about this, but a great deal of the work I do involves exactly that-dealing with invasive species-and to me, the minor stuff that isn't spread far and wide by birds is piddly and possibly not even a minor problem. +oM

Hi. Pic 1 might be a an immature Colocasia esculenta 'White Lava' with no white areas yet or a Colocasia esculenta 'Red Stem'. There is a 'V' or 'Y' shaped purple spot where the leaf stem (petiole) joins the leaf. Pic 2 is an Alocasia of some sort. Maybe an Alocasia 'Portora' based on the slightly ruffled and scalloped look the leaves have. At its current age it also looks like an A. Calidora or an A. Macrorrhizos. If the leaves get rounder and not large with age it may be an A. gageana. It will be easier to tell what Pic 1 and Pic 2 are when they get older. Pic 3 could be a Colocasia esculenta antiquorum 'Black Beauty' or a darker cultivar of Colocasia esculenta 'Illustris'. All of these like sun.