Caladiums can be SO easy and SO pretty and SO inexpensive. I used to envy their bright colored leaves at the garden center, sigh at the high price to do my large area, then move on. Those days are long gone. For years now, I’ve planted Red Flash Caladium bulbs with total success.
This area gets shade in the morning and early afternoon. Its sunny from about 2:00 on. Nothing else I planted seemed to ‘shine’, but the caladiums do. So much so that you can easily see them from the house, which is quite a feat considering our yard in huge, but then so is the caladium leave.
The bulbs won’t sprout till the ground is warm, so no point in getting them in early. I plant them in June here in the Chicago suburbs, and even then, I bet its July before I get a sprout. Once they start coming, its like magic…a sudden explosion of color till frost.
This year the display is even more impressive since I ordered from Amaryllis & Caladium Bulb Company. I missed the opportunity to get a package at Costco, which turned out to be a good thing. I only ordered 10 bulbs since they were more expensive. I figured I would just have to live with 10 instead of my usual 20. Surprise, surprise, surprise! Each jumbo bulb from Amaryllis & Caladium Bulb Company was really a clump of 2-3, which I separated into singles. The planting looks better than ever!
Leave a Reply