Gigantic Elephant Ears at The Tropical Paradise

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I have no idea why middle-aged guys, like me, get such a kick out of growing gigantic plants, but we do. Maybe it's because although gardening is a gentle art, we are, after all, still guys. I'm not growing record-breaking pumpkins here, but I've got some pretty impressive Elephant Ears (colocasia) here at The Tropical Paradise.

While visiting a friend in Los Angeles a few years ago, I volunteered to help around the garden, and was given a few tiny bulbs. At the time I really didn't know what they were, and they were so tiny that I just thought they would make a nice small ground cover plant, if they survived in Arizona.

I planted them all over the garden, and mostly the Arizona sun, or the Arizona frost, killed them. They are still straggling along in some places in the garden, but in one particular area, where they get only morning sun and a generous amount of water, they have done well. This year I have helped them along with regular feeding of fertilizer and some Super Thrive™. I remember being amazed with they got to be three feet tall, now the leaves themselves are getting almost that big! Cool.


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