Several varieties of Colocasias and Alocasias grow very well here.
For your drainage I sugguest the common Colocasia esculenta that you can find at Lowes and Wal-Mart.
Most of the ones in this bed are Colocasias. The Black Magic are to the far left out of site.
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This is a picture of my fiends EE's in Decatur.
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The green and black one is Colocasia 'Illustris'.
The solid black in the middle is Colocasia 'Black Magic'
The very small green ones are Colocasia 'Hawaiian'

Wow- thanks for the wonderful pics. If only my ditch border would look like that! I'm definitely going to seek out some of those. Are they easy to divide and transplant from other generous gardeners? (I'm gardening on a budget, and most of my babies come from swaps and gifts.)

Are these the same as taro?

Yes, same as Taro. That you buy in the grocery store. Most all large grocery stores carry them now. Not just the Asian markets. Even Wal-mart.
Try Publix. I bought some there last year. Never know what variety you might get. But most are green probally similar to the Hawaiian.

are they winter hardy? What about sun requirements?
These are going to be a really useful screen for some ugly problem spots, I think.

Heh let me put it this way on hardiness in our area:

You can't get rid of them ;)

I started with 3 bulbs 4 years ago. One rotted immediately with rains. They spread.

I gave away HUGE bulbs at a couple plant trades. Lots of small ones. I have had them in full sun and both little or lots of water down to NE exposure (little afternoon light) and just occassional water. They've loved it.

I have areas where I've cleared down to lots of little pieces that had broken off and regrown. If anyone would like scions of well and fast growing EEs, PLEASE let me know, as I have a bunch more to dig up again, and right now they're at a great small size to find and move before they're huge.

They literally have grown cascading down the dirt I moved this last fall and came back up all over the place. Even the dogs haven't killed them off and one lays down on them all the time.

Take them, please ;) **Michael

Michael
I would love some if they are available

Michael, do you leave your elephant ears in the ground over the winter?

A friend gave me 3 big bulbs; he digs them up and leaves them in the basement over the winter. I don't have a basement and would need to find a different situation for them. I generally don't like to deal with this -- it's like, if the dahlias or glads or whatever die, then so be it. But I don't think I want the elephant ears to die because they will be serving SUCH a useful function (esthr--Screening Ugly Sights!)

Rose

Those are neat plants but as previously mentioned are a major pest plant in other areas... Like Florida for instance. I have seen the black ones at Home Depot. They looked a little shrivled and unhappy. I have seen them do great indoors and last a really long time with giant 2 foot leaves. Indoors is exactly where they belong if your home backs up to a natural area or somewhere they could potentially spread to.

Nosyrosie, I'm sure Michael leaves his in the ground. The common, all green Colocasia esculenta doesn't mind our winters at all. That said, I have yet to overwinter 'Black Magic' or 'Black Ruffles/Black Runner/whatever they call it'. Sometimes 'Illustris' overwinters, sometimes it doesn't. Colocasia fontanesii has always made it, but I keep expecting to lose it one winter - it's a close thing.

So, in my experience only the common, huge green elephant ear is reliably hardy for us. However, it is completely hardy. I know of plantings in north, zone 7A Georgia that have been there for decades.

Thanks, Brian. I guess I'll leave them and see what happens; they're not that expensive so if they contribute half as much as I'm hoping they will with their great presence I will make sure to get more. This is my first time ever having them.

Rose

Yeap I've left all my elephant ears in the ground for years. the only ones that dont survive every year, as mentioned already, are the black ones. the milder winters lately have been easy for a LOT of things to overwinter in-ground that normally wouldn't.

I'm in town, in the Grant Park/ East Atl area. Drop me an email if you want to work out a time to swing by and dig up as many little (for now) elephant ears as you want before I'm forced to pull them out of areas I dont want.

how do i get the picture to come up. I got the first picture but the other pictures are just a empty square with a red x in the upper left corner. thank for any help you can give me.

sandyb, I had removed the pictures to free up more space.
I Put them back.

Wish I'd known they would come back. I had some on the side of my house to disguise some chipped paint we have on the foundation. They were in a southwest exposure and I really didn't baby them, and they came up like crazy.

I wanted to save them and dug them up, but they rotted in the box after I left them out in the rain.

NOTE: Walter Reeve's assistant told me to be sure to wear gloves and glasses if you cut the stalks down in the fall. Something about the juice in those stalks being toxic.

On the coast, the only months my were not out this past year were in January, after a freeze down to 24 degrees. They were back up and at 'em again by February, and are currently huge...I also have an 11 foot trunked "Ice Cream" banana in bloom.

Michael, I would absolutely love some of your EE's if you've still got some to share. I'll drop you an email.

I planted some corms from the supermarket about 10 days ago, and I haven't seen anything yet. I'm starting to worry that they were too dried out, or maybe I put them in upside down. In any case, they'll be a total surprise, and I'm not sure if they'll be the hardy type. So I'd love some proven transplants.

I have had the black stemmed elephant ears, along with the huge green ones, growing for more than three years. The black-stemmed are 'fontasia' and they are the running type. I had several small volunteers pop up four feet or so from the mother plant. They were not cheap plants, about $18 each, so I'm glad to see them multiply.

I had the Illustris planted one year, but it didn't return. They seem to prefer a well watered site.

I just returned home from Randy's with a huge EE corm that already has several shoots sprouting. I also got a nice black stemmed fontasia that I hope will overwinter with protection.I'll get them planted tomorrow. Thanks for all the info and advise here!!!

I have overwintered my 'Black Runner' elephant ear in the ground for at least the lat 2 winters maybe 3 (don't remember when I first bought them) Admittedly they are much smaller than my 'Nancy's revenge' but I thought it wasthe difference in the variety. Hmm, maybe I'll mulch them real heavy this winter.

I have elephant ears too... I live down by Fort Benning/ Columbus. I planted mine the first year we moved here. We have been here almost 3 years. All I do is cut them down when the leaves start turning icky in the winter and cover them with pine straw and they keep coming back. I love them.

Can anyone give me some information on why all of a sudden my elephant ears have blooms? Currently I have Illustris, Violet Stem, Black Magic and the regular big green that all have blooms on them. The illustris and black magic were just planted this year and the other two have been established about 3 years now and all four varieties have blooms coming on the plants. Besides feeding them regular, I can't figure out what I could have done to make them all throw out blooms within days of each other? Can any of these be cross pollinated with each other? if so how? Thanks for any help you guys can give! :)

I have the common green type of elephant ears here in Augusta. It comes back every year and the clump gets larger and larger. But this year with all of that rain we got, the leaves are HUGE. They seem to do ok in regular soil with mulch but really responded to more moisture. I cut them back(after the first freeze gets the leaves)in the winter and put apx. 1-2 ft. of pine straw over them for the winter and they have always come back.

I'm in Augusta too and we tried elephant ears for the first time this year (got them at Growers Outlet). Took a picture of my partner next to them; he's 5'10" and they are towering over him.

The elephant ears that ate Augusta.

Gail

Are these things going to die in the winter because they are all over the place here in roadside ditches and disturbed natural areas.

This is apparently the time of year for elephant ears to bloom. The black one I planted a couple of months ago has a very showy yellow flower. It has never gotten anything but neglect from me.

As an update, I got some ee's from Michael and plopped them in the ground next to my stream, and within a week or two they had taken off. Now, a month or so later, they've formed a graceful 3 ft. tall or higher ruffle along one side of the stream, with some of the leaves getting at least 1 1/2 feet wide. At least. I also planted some from the grocery store, and they took longer, but have now sprouted and made pretty little ones to fill in between the big ones. Yay!
Now- any ideas for contrasting plants to plant in front of them as the next layer of that bank of the stream? Wet and partial to full shade. I'm thinking maybe creeping jenny in between the stems of the ee's.

Yes they do very well in South Georgia I was just out measuring some of the ears and we have some from 31 to 38 inches and one that is 41 inches and another that is 44 inches so yes they do well