Thanks so much Debbie for replying to my post. I think I see what I did wrong last year---I continued to water as usual because I knew that the elephant ears liked moisture. I did not reduce the water to trigger dormancy as you suggested. Our average frost date is mid October. I have noticed that the nights are cooler than before and the day temperatures are lower too. I think it will be time soon to stop watering. I will cut the top off and check on the bulb. I wouldn't want to bring it in with its pot (too big) and then find out it had rotted! My other elephant ears are smaller. I think I will pick one of them to keep as a houseplant. The only worry I have (besides bulb rot) is fungus gnats since the soil likes to be kept moist. The other three elephant ears I'll keep in their pots, but stop watering until spring. I sure hope this all works out! Thanks so much! By the way, Illustris is a lovely elephant ear. . . don't you think?

Dorothy, The southern part of zone 6 would be 6B. I am not sure elephant ears would survive in a pot above the ground. It would depend on just how cold it gets, and you know how wildly variable Oklahoma weather can be. Having said that, though, our local weather forecasters here in southern Oklahoma tell us we are in a La Nina weather pattern, which tends to give us a warmer and drier than average winter. (For us here in extreme southern Oklahoma, this seems to be true so far, as we are still having daytime highs in the upper seventies to mid-eighties, and haven't had a killing freeze yet. No rain either.) One unfortunate aspect of a La Nina weather pattern as experienced here in Oklahoma, though, is that there are often some very cold though brief blasts of Artic Cold, so 'warmer and drier than average' doesn't mean there won't be some periods of extreme cold. In general, when I have a plant in a pot, I consider the plant in that pot to be one-half to one full zone colder than if in the ground. So, if you are in zone 6B, then your elephant ears in an above-ground container would be overwintering in at least zone 6A and possibly zone 5B. The reason is that the ground is a great insulator, and you lose much of that insulation value if you overwinter in a large above-ground container. If you have no choice about leaving the elephant ears in the container and leaving it outside, you could try to add extra insulation by placing lots of hay or bags of leaves around the container. You could pile a lot of mulch on top of the container. The elephant ears might make it and they might not. Be sure to water them occasionally, keeping them moist but not sopping wet, beacause plants that are very dry suffer freeze damage more easily. Caladium bulbs are tropical and need to be dug and overwintered in a non-freezing location. I have had caladiums survive only one year in the ground in the 9 years I've been in southern Oklahoma and I am in zone 7B. Even when I lived in Fort Worth, which is zone 8, caladiums seldom survived the winter in the ground. Hope this info helps. Dawn

The 1st picture is the side you plant facing up. The last picture is showing where your bulb was broken off of another bulb. Some other advice: - These bulbs are very prone to rotting in cool spring weather especially if the soil is too wet. - They can take a long time to get going but once the warm weather hits they will take off. Be patient. - If you want to get a headstart plant first in a pot. Water the soil thoroughly and place the whole pot in a clear plastic bag sealed at the top. Place in a warm sunny location. Once you see some sprouts then open the bag. - Planting outside early in the cool ground won't speed up growth. High temps are key so it's sometimes better to wait. Good luck

Older leaves tend to die back after awhile. That said, your picture suggests there is leaf speckling, which can occur with spider mite infestation (look for tiny gray-white moving critters on the underside of leaves, or fine webbing). If there's infestation you can cut back foliage and wash off what remains with a strong spray of water, keeping it up regularly until they're gone. Colocasias in my experience don't do well indoors - full sun, lots of water and fertilizer is what they prefer.