TROPICAL FAVORITES TO PLANT IN SPRING
Spring is upon us, and we’re all itching to get some color into our garden beds, borders, and containers. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the instant gratification of our favorite spring-flowering annuals, but now is the best time to be thinking long-term! While you’re choosing your cool-season annuals, don’t forget to pick up some bold plants to set up your Indianapolis garden for a dazzling summer show.
These high-impact tropicals are easy to plant once the soil is warm enough to work with. Just a few minutes of work now will pay off with dramatic foliage and vibrant color for your summer garden.
ELEPHANT EARS
Why You’ll Love Them: These aptly-named foliage plants are having a moment right now. Elephant ears are actually a fairly large category of plants with similar leaf shapes but very different color and size options.
Caladium have the most colorful foliage patterns and are just as showy (if not more!) than your brightest traditional annuals. These are a relatively small Elephant Ear plant with a height range of 6” to 3’, and are sometimes called “angel wings.” Caladium can be grown indoors as well as outdoors.
Alocasia are the mid-sized elephant ear plants at 2’ to 6’ tall, and are also known as African mask. Their upward-pointing foliage has the most variety in terms of form factor, often with jagged edges, eye-popping surface texture, and high-contrast venation.
Colocasia are the leaves that grow from the taro root, which you may recognize as a delicacy featured in many Asian desserts. They have downward-pointing foliage and come in several shades of green, violet, or variegations, sometimes with interesting venation. Colocasia can grow larger than a real elephant’s ear with a height range of 3’ to 10’!
The fourth family of elephant ears is known as Xanthosoma, but they’re rarely grown in home gardens.
How to Plant: Alocasia and Colocasia are moisture lovers, and are great for planting in damp environments around ponds or lower areas of the garden. Caladiums, on the other hand, prefer more well-drained soil, though they still like a fairly moist environment. All three elephant ears do best in partial shade, and the darker the foliage color, the more shade they’ll need. Plant after the danger of frost has passed, planting each 4-6” deep and 4-6” apart with the pointed side of the bulb facing upward. Mix some slow-release granular fertilizer into the soil at the time of planting to keep the plants well-fed.
Caladium can be planted in containers, and will soon become the center of attention in the container arrangement. We recommend planting Alocasia and Colocasia where they can stand on their own—they’ll undoubtedly become the focal feature of your shade garden!
Caring for Elephant Ears: Evenly moist soil is important for all elephant ears, as they’re native to the damp tropical forest floors. They’ll need to be watered a minimum of once per week throughout the growing season, and more often as the weather gets hotter. Mulch can help you prolong the period between waterings. Apply more granular fertilizer every three weeks.
If you wish to overwinter the plants, you’ll need to cut back the foliage in the fall and dig up the tubers before the first frost. Allow them to dry in the sun for a day and then store them in a mesh bag with some peat moss until the following spring.
CANNA LILIES
Why You’ll Love Them: It’s hard not to fall in love with these stunning tropical beauties. Canna lilies are available in virtually any shade on the warm side of the color spectrum with an endless variety of petal shapes and colors, plus the option of green or bronzed foliage. These large (4’ to 6’!), sculptural flowers let you get creative with high-contrast, look-at-me shapes and colors in your summer garden design.
How to Plant: Choose firm, plump rhizomes to plant and choose a location with full sun to dappled shade and rich, moist, well-drained soil. After the danger of frost has passed, enrich the planting site with compost and plant rhizomes 4” deep. Space cannas according to their expected height; dwarf cultivars can be spaced apart 18”, standards (under 5’ tall) should be spaced 2’ apart, and larger varieties should be given at least 3’ of breathing room. Plant with the roots facing down and the pointed end facing the sky.
Caring for Canna Lilies: Keep soil consistently moist throughout the growing season, and apply all-purpose fertilizer every three weeks to keep these nutrient-hungry flowers blooming boldly. Deadhead the spent flowers whenever you see them to keep the plant blooming, and remove flower spikes that have stopped blooming with a sharp, clean knife to encourage another spike to form.
To overwinter, dig up the rhizomes after the plant has died back. Remove the spent stems and foliage and allow the bare rhizomes to sit in the open air for a day. Place in a tray with a layer of compost or wood vermiculite and store in a frost-free location.
If you're getting the itch to get planting, come for a visit to our garden center in Indianapolis! You’ll find your fix of flowering annuals to enjoy today, and an awesome selection of tropical treats to savor when the mercury rises.