Easy Plant: Elephant Ears

One more in our "easy plant" series here, for hot summers, it is difficult to beat Colocasia, more commonly referred to as Elephant Ears.

We have had several varieties of Elephant Ears year after year, and I love the lush tropical image they give.

Pictured here is an interesting variety, called "Upright" because the leaves point up instead of down.

Also in our garden we have "regular" elephant ears, though at 3 years old, they need to be replaced since they did not do well after this year's winter, as well as "Black Magic" with purple foliage and another one this year called "Kona Coffee" which has brownish stems and green leaves.

Super easy - grab some bulbs in April and get them in the ground in May or so.

Enjoy!

The Hops

Here are my cascade hops plants climbing the trellis twine...
No, they don't grow sideways, that's just the picture (and unless I install Picasa to edit (sometime) it will be sideways - sorry!)

Hawthornes

The ballerina hawthornes started blooming this morning. If you look closely you might see an oak tree needing removal as well.

Artemisia

Here is a picture of one of the easiest plants I have found to grow in our landscape.  It's called Wormwood Artemisia.  When I planted it, it was in a simple 4 inch pot, and now it has grown HUGE!  This is a picture now, which is cut back by more than half over the winter.  Last fall it covered the daylilies (to the right) and reached all the way back to the tree trunk.  Highly recommended if you are looking for a simple silver foliage plant.  (You can also see where the grass suffered from too much artemisia shade last summer - I plan to keep it trimmed within the border this year).

Warning:  You HAVE to keep this thing trimmed back, or it MAY become a bit invasive!!! But if that's what you want, that's what you get!

Let's talk about March!

OK, so March has come and gone, and a good bit of things happened in our yard in the March timeframe.  So let's walk through what has been done and what is upcoming...

In February, I trimmed the rosebush and the butterfly bush back quite a bit.  Also, in late February planted a set of red onions in the garden.

Beginning of the month:

Applied a crabgrass pre-emergent to the lawn.  This year I used Dimension by Green Light.

I also planted an upright elephant ear bulb.  After doing so, I learned that I may have done that too early.  Recommended time for elephant ears and tropical bulbs is closer to May.  Oh well, we will have to see whether it comes up or not.

Mid month

Mowed the lawn for the first time.  I dropped the blade down two notches and bagged the clippings.  Man, that is a nasty and messy messy job, but resulted in a reduction in the dead grass and encouraged the green-up of the bermuda.

Trimmed back the Russian Sage quite a bit and trimmed the Salvia plant to the ground.

Cleaned out weeds from beds.

Applied Broadleaf weed killer with 2-4D.  Need to re-apply as necessary, probably will try to do some this weekend.

Cascade hops started growing - ran new support threads in a "half-christmas tree" spoke configuration

End of month (after last frost - March 20)

Moved citrus trees outside after temperatures stayed above 40 degrees consistently.

Started planting.  Here we go:
Planted bell peppers (some red variety, Valencia Orange, and a gold variety).
Planted two tomato plants in an experimental sub-irrigated planter (Cherokee Purple heirloom and 444 hybrid)
Planted begonias in the front bed around the tree (got two flats of 50 from Calloway and had several left over to fill a pot in the back)
Planted begonias in a  pot
Planted jalapeno plant in center of begonia pot
Replaced 3 back pots
Repotted spike grass
Repotted Rosemary, Thyme, Garlic, Sage, and Oregano
Planted Sweet Basil and Cilantro in the herb garden pot
Planted eggplant in the garden - probably needed to wait on this one a little, but I got carried away.
Planted sunflower seeds in the garden along the back fence.

Phew!  That's a lot.  I may have done even more, I don't know.

Time to follow this up with an April planning post!

Current Vegetables/Fruits/Herbs

Since I didn't have this journal started by the time I planted these, I don't know the exact planting dates. But I'll give some high level guesses as to when we planted what we've got growing. Sorry for the dark pictures, didn't have enough light this evening. Also - missing pictures probably have their own post...

Herbs:
Basil - planted in Spring 2009 - having trouble of late - will die out and need to be replanted in 2010 (below in pot)
Oregano - planted 2007 (below in pot)
Rosemary - planted 2007 (below in pot)
Sage - planted 2007 (below in pot)
Thyme - planted 2007 (below in pot)

Lavender - planted 2007 (trimmed way back in Spring 2009)




Vegetables/Fruits:
Jalapeno Peppers - Planted Spring 2009
Red Bell Peppers - Planted August 2009
Green Bell Peppers - Planted August 2009
Heatwave Tomatoes - Planted August 2009
Yellow Onions - Planted 9/20/2009
Turnip Greens - Planted August 2009

Simpson's Green Leaf Lettuce - Planted September 2009

Radishes - Planted September 2009

Broccoli - Planted August 2009

Butternut Squash - Planted August 2009

Citrus:
Navel Oranges - I think the fruits showed up around May

Satsuma Mandarin Oranges

Improved Meyer Lemons - existing fruits in May
Key Limes
All Citrus Trees planted in 2007

Other Plants:
Cascade Hops - planted rhizome Spring 2009