Madeira bulbs

LoL. Do you remember my saying I had got some alocasia (elephant's ear) corms in Portugal this summer. Well the ones top right look just like them. So I suggest you look in that direction.

 

Hi, John. What the one that looks like a veggie?

Yes, I remember you saying something but I thought you couldn't remember what it was :rolleyes: and I can't remember where we were talking about it.

This is my Alocasia polly, the smaller variegated variety ...



I bought this as a plant so don't know what's underneath, so to speak. It would certainly be a houseplant there although mine is outside here and has bloomed, albeit nondescript blooms, since I bought it ... I'm testing it's hardiness outside over the winter here.

I can't find a picture of the rhizome to compare ... have you planted yours yet?

 

Everything in pots.
Goodness only knows what I'm growing. :D

I'll let you no what happends, if anything.
I hope I've got one of the ones above , it's lovely.

[ 01. October 2007, 03:32 PM: Message edited by: Lyn ]

 

No Lyn. Yours could be Colocasia esculenta, like mine. (It is a member of the alocasia family). It is not totally hardy but is only killed by prolonged frost. I am growing mine (since August) in a pot but will transfer next year to open soil after nursing it with some straw and hessian over it's first winter. Mine is very young of course but here's its first photo call:-




I think all the elephant's ears are similar, except in hardiness, but I suspect that yours is a colocasia and if so just needs a bit of care over the first couple of winters. Of course, as it is me saying this I am sure some genuine expert will now come in and say 'No. It's a dandelion.' Of course if this winter is like last, there will be no prolonged frost in which case it will be fine with just a towel or old blanket thrown over it on cold nights.

 

LoL. I can't remember the thread either but you had a photo of some outside a restaurant and were threatening to steal them. :eek: :D

 

Right,
I have just read on a tropical plant site they should be lifted in the winter and dried and stored somewhere dry and frost free.
http://landscaping.about.com/od/unusualplants1/p/elephant_ears.htm
Thats if it is one of these. :confused:
But I don't really have a clue they are in a pot now so I will keep it frost free and see what happends.

 

Yes, John, I remember now, I was obviously having a senior moment! :rolleyes: It's in my Country Life thread at a restaurant we go to in the mountains. I think someone said it was a Colocasia rather than an Alocasia ... same family!

 

LoL I think that is what these are if the seller said they would grow in UK. He may have been economical with the truth about care, but I think they are growable here. But I believe anything I am told.

Lyn, that's what it says but, BM, on another thread, has just pointed out to me that even the RHS errs on the side of caution when it comes to temperature and those are American sites and when they say cold they mean cold. Me, I'm going to risk it, I think this will be another mild winter (but I'm always wrong about everything except the difference between diastolic and systolic). Last winter I tried to cold stratify some cobra lily seeds and not one germinated. Had to bring them in and shove them in the fridge for a few weeks in late spring. So my elephant's ears are staying outside with a bit of wadding. Well it's how we learn. :rolleyes: :D

 

I thought I would post an update on the Madiera bulbs.
I didn't no what to do with them so I just put them in an assortment of pots I found in the shed and left them in the conservertory .
This is what as happend so far.

No sign of the elephant ears. :D

 

Lyn, the top right one looks like a rhizome - could the writing read Ginger Lily - ie ornamental ginger.

 

It could be.
Is that good. :D
Is this the one you mean?
The leaves are a bit mottled not sure if they should be or not.
Or if it as someting wrong with it.

At least they are growing.
If I can just keep them until the summer and put them out , who knows.
I would love some flowers.

 

It looks vaguely like agapanthus to me, but unless its some strange varigated variety, I'd be a bit worried about those leaves.

 

Lyn - I don't think your last picture is looking much like an ornamental ginger. But what you have done is I am sure right. ie potting them all up and treating them all as if they are not hardy. The flowers, when they arrive, should tell you what they are.

 

They are stange.
I went away for 2 weeks begining of the month and only just noticed them.
But then again I do tend to grow strange things.
Never no what they are and in some case in the garden where they are from. :D

I'll wait and see.
Be interesting to see if they do flower.

And I am hoping for the elephants ears to grow.
Someone said they may be lying dormant for the winter, so I'll have to se what the spring brings.

 

At long last the 2 very large bulbs on the top right have started to grow.
It's only taken a year.