Caladiums

I just now ordered a shipment of caladium bulbs for an old friend. This individual has a a bit of property abutting a popular park. An upscale condominium designed for minimum care. He regularly makes a half-butt effort at gardening but his heart is not in it and he doesn't know what he is doing. And it shows. I have no idea if he'll actually plant these things, I'm just trying to give him some options, and make it easy.

If he decides to give them away, boy, will I ever be cross.

No I won't. Kidding.

Either way, they'll make excellent gifts for someone.

I did this already with people right here in this building to very good results. Handfuls of caladium bulbs put into brown sandwich bags and left at the door with a little note.

Caladiums take awhile to settle in and get going and they need steadily warm nighttime temperatures, so the bulbs just sit there for weeks and people go, "See? I have a black thumb. Nothing ever grows for me." Then suddenly BLAM! The caladium stalks emerge and they grow like crazy. Observably, each day. And they produce spectacular large heart-shaped leaves in brightly colored patterns.

If you gouge out the eyes of the bulbs before planting, then each bulb produces a bush of foliage.

If you don't gouge out the eyes, then each bulb will produce one, two, or three stalks, and that's it.

Lame.

In that case they look like little-old-lady plants. But if you gouge them and redistribute their internal growth hormone, then they grow spectacularly with incredibly thick foliage. Then, the bulbs crammed together in pots, and with the bulb's eyes gouged out, the foliage is quite dense, and you'll be all, "OMG, look at me, I'm a genuine gardener!"

That happened to people around here. I gave them the joy of growing spectacular plants. They didn't know about these things. They didn't know what is possible.

I want to spread that joy.

And the plants grow well in the shade.

And they're not expensive at all.

Here are the plants that I ordered and had mailed to my difficult friend.

Ten bulbs of each type. So, only thirty bulbs.

These get planted late spring, early summer, and they stay gorgeous all summer long. 

The bulbs can be dug up and saved for overwintering or else they'll dissolve into the soil. Not so bad to buy them each year. They can be brought inside and allowed to dry and hibernate, then rejuvenated inside, or re-planted outside again.

Overwintering is another project having to do with keeping fungus off them and keeping them dry and cool but not cold.

I also sent the difficult friend some beans that grow very long such as Chinese people like. They have a thing about long vegetables representing long life. But then, what do you do with ridiculously long beans? Cut them up, of course, or let them dry and use them as regular dried beans.

They're just so cool with their red pods against dark green leaves. 

These are cool weather plants. Best in spring, and they don't do so well in the heat of summer.

Are they cool, or what? 

She should have planted them more thickly. This looks like the end of the line. The leaves are turning yellow and the pods are fully grown. 

Come on! Go for it. Grow a whole wall of them. 

I've given double packages of these beans to four different people this year. I have no idea if they intend to grow them.

If nothing else, they can eat the beans. Or give away the packages.

I bought three packages for myself because I want to plant them densely. I'm going to really crowd these things, so the foliage completely covers the railing. And mixed with other vining plants because I expect they'll begin dying back a bit early. 

But I don't actually know.