Column by Gary Church: Having a Heart to Heart with the caladium plant

I can’t say that I like every plant I meet. Remembering way back, when I was just a young lad of 17, I was introduced to the caladium plant. The caladiums and I really never hit it off. To this day, there has never been one planted at my house.

Caladiums, sometimes called Heart of Jesus, are a tuberous tropical plant with very colorful foliage. They are not hardy in our area, but can be grown either as a house plant or planted outside after Memorial Day.

Although I’m getting close to 100 years old, I still have to keep up with gardening trends and new varieties of plants. I was taking a class on Proven Winners’ plants, where a big-time designer was showing off his creations, which were in landscapes at some of the higher class hotels and casinos. I think he spent more money on one design than I’ve made in my entire lifetime.

One planter that he designed did catch my eye, mainly because I wouldn’t have to sell my house to pay for it.

Several months ago, I did an article on the Colocasia Coffee Cup plant. I thought I might try one of those this year. In my training class, the designer had the Coffee Cup in a container with caladiums growing at the bottom of it. It looked nice. I thought to myself, perhaps Mrs. Church might actually like this design. She usually gripes about all my other colocasias I have growing.

You may find caladiums at your garden center, but they are usually sold by tubers. For best results, they need to be started indoors around the middle of April. The planters then can be set outside after Memorial Day.

Buying the tubers can be a little tricky. There are two types, fancy leaf and strap leaf. The fancy leaf is, as you might have guessed, bigger and more fancy. It has large heart-shaped leaves, but is very sensitive to cold. The strap leaf varieties have narrower arrowhead-shaped leaves and are more sun tolerant.

If you grow them from tubers, plant them about 2 inches deep with knobs pointed up. Knobs are the eyes on the outside of the tuber. The smooth side of the tuber should be down in the soil. Since the roots are on the sides, along with the knobs, it is a little difficult to tell up from down. Should you purchase your bulbs from Proven Winners, they paint the top side white, so you don’t mess up.

Then there is the problem with what size you buy. They come as #1, #2 and #3 size bulbs. You would think that #1 size would be the best, but there is also a jumbo size. That’s the one to get, but if you can’t find it, #1 will do.

Proven Winners has a new series of caladiums called Heart to Heart, which are very nice. They are a low maintenance plant, but do like humidity. They will add a tropical look to your garden or patio, with very little fertilizer needed.

Unfortunately, saving the tubers year to year doesn’t work well. Your plants will be much smaller.

Check your foliage regularly, to see if they are getting too much sun. Holes with brown edges between the veins, which is called melting, are a sign of too much sun. Usually four to six hours of sun is okay.

During another class I took, the teacher said it is best to rest after 20 minutes of gardening. It’s nice to know that I have been doing it right all of these years. The only problem I have is getting back up off my you-know-what to finish the project. Thankfully, I usually get them done before it snows.

Make your space a green space.