I grow elephant ears every year - I just love them! They grow great in pots and are a lush focal point. I like "Black Magic" and "Illustris" the best, but I do grow the plain 'ol giant green ones just for the sheer size of them - looks great in a big cement pot I have.

Your plants are beautiful. I grew black magic and a generic in pots with so so results. Do your pots have drainage holes? It was really hard to keep them watered this summer which is why they grew but didn't get really large. I think....

mzdee - Yes there are drainage holes in the pot and yes, they do need a lot of water. That's one of the reasons I like growing them in pots - it's easier to give them the water they need.

mantis - Those are nice. The first one looks very similar to my Black Coral. The last one looks a lot like Alocasia macrorrhiza (Upright Elephant Ear) which is still one of my all-time-favorites.

Kevin

Yes, the second one matches the pictures of alocasia macrorrhiza. Is it the species or a particular cultivar?

Love that Black Coral, especially how glossy the foliage is. I got a start of Black Magic in a trade this year and like it a lot- first time growing Colocasia. Not much to show though, the guy is only a foot or so tall, lol.

Next year I think I may try a few more Colocasias and Alocasias- broad leaf tropicals really do add a nice contrast to the finer leafed perennials in the garden.

I'm also growing Cannas in my large terra cotta pots. They seem to do much better there than in the ground, since it takes a long time for the weather to warm up here. My 'Australia' Canna managed to get six feet tall. Kind of strange looking in the pot I put it in though, LOL.

Ps. Mantis, love your tropical/annual vignette and planters!!
CMK

Canna Pink Sunburst is a great choice for pots. Even when not in bloom, the foliage captures attention:
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And here is Rob Roy in a pot:
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I also love using Elephant Ears. Some I plant directly in the ground, some go in half whiskey barrels. If I use smaller pots the wind out here on the prairie catches those giant sails and sends the pots toppling. I use a lot of coleus both in pots and in beds. My new fave this summer was Acalypha wilkesiana.

aachenelf,

I grew a couple of the Elephant Ears this year in large black pots that I buried in the garden (thinking it would be much easier to pull them up for the winter). I was quite disappointed in their lack of vigor...leaves would just shrivel up and die, and then I'd have to wait for new growth to appear. I saw similar varieties doing much better near a community centre in town (I assume that those were planted directly in the soil). Now we have had the driest summer on record, so the pots may have not rec'd enough water..., but I'm wondering if you notice a difference between the ones grown in pots and in the soil.

Also, when do you separate/pot up new babies? Do you leave them all together for the winter, and separate in the spring?

Thanks, hoping for better luck next season!

They do require a lot of water, so maybe that was the problem. I generally find these plants much easier to care for in pots just because of the watering thing. During the hottest part of the summer I have to water daily or they wilt like crazy. I hope your pots had drainage holes, because that could be an issue too.

As far as pots vs. in the garden, they do equally as well for me, but a smaller pot will restrict their growth. However, I always plant them in pots the first year just to baby them along. The next year, when they're larger, I'll plant in the ground if I want to.

Yes, I separate in the spring - usually late Feb or March. Most of mine are kept in a sunny window, but in a cold room. They will keep growing as long as the temps are above 50, but once temps drop below that, I stop watering or they rot. The temps in my cold room will drop into the high 30's during the dead of winter. Once the temps start warming up in the spring and I see new growth, I dump them out of their pots and divide.

Some of the easy ones like the common Elephant Ears are stored like potatoes in the basement. The others which don't form the large, hard tubers are the ones I keep in pots.

Colocasia "Black Coral" looks very similar to C. "Diamond Head" - both with glossy near black foliage, more attractive to me than the dull-leafed "Black Magic". My favorite elephant ear in 2012 was "Coffee Cups", which is fun to watch during rain as the leaves fill up with water and then dip down to drain it out.

Best tropical accent for me was variegated tapioca (Manihot esculenta "Variegata") which after a couple of failed tries at keeping and propagating small plants over the winter, finally yielded success this time out as I grew several plants to nearly 6 feet (seen here backed by Canna "Australia"):

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Musa basjoo benefited from a mild winter, growing to nearly 13 feet:

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