The Compost Bin

Could I get a moment of silence for my Colocasia gigantea Thailand Giant Strain. The poor fella just didn't have a chance outside in the cold of winter.

This giant elephant ear is not at all hardy but due to the perfect storm of excuses, I wasn't able to overwinter it this year.

Last year, I brought it in the house and it overwintered in my living room and I thought that I'd do the same this year. I actually did bring it into the living room which is no easy feat because the pot is really heavy. The pot's diameter is 22" and it holds a lot of soil in there. Probably about the equivalent of the state of Rhode Island in this behemoth of a flower pot. Well in my warm house, the bugs that decided to overwinter in the pot got confused and assumed it was spring. After a few hours inside, my living room was like a scene from the 10 Commandments when Moses sent the locusts after the Pharaoh. Except Pharaoh didn't have to get his pool net to catch all the bugs that flew way up to his 16' cathedral ceilings. So let it be written that I would not be overwintering the Giant Elephant ear in the living room, so let it be done.

The next option was my garage. It's a disaster in there and you can barely walk around. In fact the only way that you can walk in there is to walk on top of stuff. I'm usually pretty organized but the garage just totally got away from me. You see, my 10' x 12' metal shed that was filled to the rim, collapsed last year. There was about a foot of ice on the roof and the thing just totally caved in. So when it rains outside, it now rains in my shed too. Of course all of that junk had to go somewhere and the garage is where it went. So I just didn't have the space in my garage to overwinter my giant elephant ear.

My last plan was to wrap it up and insulate it. This way it could be overwintered outside. My grandfather had a 10 foot fig tree that he overwintered outside, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Well my grandfather was retired and had plenty of time to build a structure with 2x4s and roofing paper that he stuffed with insulation every year. And his fig palace would have no doubt stood up to winter better than my shed did. But never the less, I didn't have enough free time to wrap my plant either.

Now, we're in the middle of winter and I'm left with a sad looking pot, that's filled with nothing but the state of Rhode Island and a bunch of hibernating locusts that were sent by Moses. Next year I guess I should put some lamb's blood on my front door. I think I have some in the garage.

If you read this blog over the summer you'd know that I was very happy with my purchase of a Colocasia Gigantea Thailand Strain (Giant Elephant Ear). Watching it grow from a little stick into a behemoth with five foot leaves was a lot of fun and very interesting for me.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it once the cold weather came but I had ideas of letting it dry out and storing the bulb in my garage. Well that didn't happen at all because I smashed it.

While trying to move the plant and it's 100 plus pounds of planter and soil over to my pool (hey I wanted a more tropical look) I dropped it down some concrete steps. Ooops! Most of the leaves snapped off and I thought that was the end of it. It was really sad looking.


But with less leaves, it became a much smaller plant. So into the house it went. There was no way that a 7 foot tall potted plant could have fit in my living room but my accidental alterations changed that. My living room has very little natural light in it but I figured that since the Elephant Ear does well in the shade, that it would be okay.


And it did better than okay. A few new leaves shot up and it even flowered. The flowers look a lot like peace lily flowers although they're a lot bigger.


I keep cutting off leaves so that it fits in my house. It really doesn't look great as a house plant but I'm just happy that it survived the fall and it's making it through the winter.

This summer my elephant ear is getting a prime location by the pool. I just may need some help moving it there.

I may be blogging less lately but that doesn't mean that my plants have stopped growing. Here is a picture of my Musa Basjoo (hardy banana) and the Colocasia gigantea Thailand Giant Strain (big ass elephant ear) and they're both doing great.

We recently had my son's 4th birthday party during the 100 degree weather here in NJ. Guests still made their way outside to look at the giant leaves. If you're looking for a plant that's a great conversation starter then definitely go with the Giant Elephant Ear.

If you're interested in tracking their growth, here are links to my past updates.

First Received Plants in Mail
04/27/2006

Musa Basjoo Updates:
05/09/2006
06/03/2006

Colocasia gigantea Thailand Giant Strain Updates:
06/01/2006

In the future, I plan on posting about cutting away the pups on the banana to create more plants (if I actually do it without killing anything) and how I plan on overwintering these guys.

Not since Dumbo, have I seen elephant ears this large.

The Colocasia gigantea Thailand Giant Strain that I received in April is really starting to look great. I had hoped to get this, along with my musa basjoo, into the ground around my pool for a tropical look but that never happened. Here it is still in a pot in the middle of July. Don't ask me about the pool renovation, since I'm still not swimming it's a sore subject. But anyway, the elephant ear is doing just fine in this pot.

It grows slow but steadily until the hot weather kicks in. And lately I'm getting a few new leaves every week.

When I ordered my Musa Basjoo I was a little skeptical but I was also hopeful. The catalog says it'll grow to 10-12 feet (if it's in the ground, not in a pot like I have it) and will survive a NJ winter with a little help in the form of deep mulch and a tarp. Catalog claims usually reflect the best possible growing conditions but only if you're standing on one leg on a Tuesday during a lunar eclipse... I figured if it grew a few feet tall and looked good, I'd be happy with the purchase. Go Banana Go!

When the Musa Basjoo arrived in the mail, I thought I'd been robbed. This little twig is going to grow 10 feet? I was robbed! Where's my money back guarantee? But I planted it anyway just to see what would happen. I'm pretty good with my container plants, let's see if I could grow a big banana.



I planted it in the biggest pot (22" diameter) I had and used a mixture of compost and manure. The pot has been in full sun since I got it and it's doing well as seen in my last Musa Basjoo Update

Now it's been about a month and a half and the plant has got 3-4 leaves and it's a few feet tall and it's still early June. I may get somewhere near 6-8 feet by the end of summer.

I love growing Elephant Ear. You toss a bulb in a big pot filled with compost and water it everyday and you get a great looking five foot tall plant for the patio.

This year I ordered a Colocasia gigantea Thailand Giant Strain. It arrived in a tiny 24 oz pot about a month ago and it's doing great. I planted it in a compost/manure mixture and added some of those water crystals because they like to stay moist.

The Plant Delights catalog said that it can grow to 9 feet tall and have leaves 5 feet long. Probably won't get that big in a pot but we'll see if it can top 6 feet by the end of the summer.

Meet the newest members of my yard. My Plant Delights order came in the other day. With a newly built 5 foot tall retainning wall now circling my pool area, I needed some green to soften them up a bit. I chose Colocasia gigantea Thailand Giant Strain (Giant Elephant Ear), Musa Basjoo (Hardy Banana) and Stuttgart Variegated Canna. All of which should grow taller than my walls and definitely green up the stone dominated area.

At this point the Musa Basjoo looks like a stick in a pot but it could grow up to 12 feet tall if I can get it in the ground. But my yard is on hold for a week or two while we wait for the new pool liner to come in. That means I'll have workers stomping around my yard for at least another month. I better stick with the pots to keep these guys safe.

For the first time I was able to overwinter my Hibicus standard indoors so I figured I'd make my fall chores a little hardy with this purchase. If I keep these plants in pots, I'll have to bubble wrap them and store them in the garage over the winter but the Musa Bajoo may make it into the ground. That will mean that I have to cut it back and heavily mulch it and put a tarp over it to keep it dry. I have fond memories of helping my Grandfather build a giant box to overwinter his fig tree every year so maybe it won't seem too much like a chore.