It really doesn't take up that much room. Late summer or early fall if it has gotten big enough it'll send runners out and they'll go anywhere from 1 to about 3 ft (or more) from the mama. The end will tip up and start growing a new baby. Once it does that I usually add some soil at the point where it's trying to grow roots. I've also weighted with a rock or buried the runner just behind the point and it'll sometimes tip up from there. Once it has roots you might want to cut it from the mom and pot it up because the babies have a hard time making it though winter. Hope that helps. Fontanesii is one of my fav EE's and the one I have in full sun is the earliest to return for me in the spring, but this year it has been lagging behind with the cooler temps we keep getting.

That does help because I don't want to crowd the roots. It's in a fragrance garden -- do yours bloom for you? I'm hoping it will grow tall enough this year to provide some seasonal screening to the patio that we use a lot in the fall.

Thanks!

Yes, it blooms a lot. I usually cut off the first ones and most of the later ones, just so it'll keep putting its energy into the main plant to prepare for winter. The underground part of mine prolly doesn't take up more than about 2 to 3 feet square and that's even after a few years. Part of that might be because I'm always digging babies to share with people, lol... Feed and water it a lot and it's happy.

I have one Colocasia esculenta 'Fontanesii' which was doing fine but yesterday I noticed something had bitten off the entire (and only visible) stem! yikes! It must have been hungry. It may have been a rabbit or several of them. :-)
I hope it grows back. It is on the young side.

I saw a bunny heading for my garden one evening and I ran out and cut some lavender and nepeta stems to put on the ground around the plants in that area. I've not had a problem since then. However, with this rain, I probably need to refresh the herbal repellent!

Cameron, I have several C. fontanesii and their growth depends greatly on how much food and water you give them. The leaves can get pretty large in one year so that nearby plants are overshadowed - not a bad thing if they like shade. Last summer mine bloomed a lot and sent out above ground runners that got about 3-feet long. Just before the first hard freeze I dug the plants and put them in 7-gal black pots and left them in the crawl space overwinter. I cut off the runners and cut them into roughly 3-inch pieces and left them upright in dirt in a 3-gallon black pot. This spring most of the pieces sprouted and the rest are still alive. I love this plant and am excited that I will have lots to share at the fall Raleigh swap.

ralph -- thanks for the info. I'm glad to hear excitement about these plants, too. I finally have space for large tropicals.

I do want these to help shade my winter daphne until the sweet bay magnolia and dogwood mature to provide shade. I have a permanent home in mind for the c. fonanesii once those trees are doing their thing.

Do you think a garage is too warm for overwintering? I also have a tool shed underneath my screened porch -- foundation on one side and the other sides are lattice -- perhaps too cold? I have this claustophobic thing about going into the crawl space (could be a job for my fearless husband!).

BTW, the daphne grew much more than I thought for having only been in the ground since October. It bloomed well, too.

Does nepeta and lavender really work? I am guessing the bunnys don't like the smell?
I only have a tiny bit of each, but have lots of chocolate mint and another mint that I think is spearmint. Do you think that would work the same way? interesting idea!

I recently tried this recipe: 2 Tbls of Cayenne Pepper in 4 cups of hot water, and then stained through a coffee filter.
I sprayed it on what was left of my EE and hostas, hoping the deer and bunnys would think twice b4 munching on them again! haha
It may be too late but it is worth a try, I guess, even though since it has been raining I should respray now.

jnhidden -- I've been checking some of my older posts and found another one that I'd failed to answer (we were off on vacation for several weeks and tending to lots of gardening). My apologies for the long delay.

The nepeta and lavender stems succeeded in keeping the bunnies off of 6 of my rudbeckia. I have 3 rudbeckia that I didn't "protect" and all 3 were munched. I have recently updated my blog on deer resistant gardening with a bit of bunny talk. (go to My Page and click on my link).

As for the colocasia, it's doing quite well in the company of buddleia, monarda and heuchera.
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Wow that is just so beautiful! Now I got to have one! Can anyone point me in the right direction to find that plant? How do you think it would do in compost ammended very sandy soil?

I thought Colocasia esculenta was poison. Wouldn't it kill anything that ate it thereby solving the problem

actually it's quite edible and used as a starch in some island nations. believe it's what 'taro' is. 'esculenta' means something like good eating. and anyway, bug, herp, bird, fish and even other mammal physiology is so different from ours. think about the poisonous shrooms other critters like turtles can eat that we can't. or caterpillars who eat poisonous plants so they taste bad to birds.