Progress of the Magnificent Colocasia

Avery Bartlett-Golden next to his Thailand Giant variety of elephant ears. 

Progress of the Magnificent Colocasia
By guest author Avery Bartlett-Golden

This year, despite a hard winter, my Thailand Giant variety of elephant ears, also known as Colocasia gigantea ‘Thailand Giant’, returned with fantastic vigor. Since I first got a plant from Professor Dr. Dennis Werner four years ago, I have been continually surprised by how fast these colacasias grow. Over the years I have been working on improving the soil around the sunny spot in the front yard where I planted them so that now the area has around eight inches of decomposed mulch. This, and close attention to water and nitrogen throughout the summer, has helped the elephant ears reach their full potential. 

Before my plant from last year died, it sent up tall flower spikes with white blossoms that gave off a fruity fragrance in evening. A number of new plants have grown up from the flower seeds set in fall. Even though the tiny seeds of colocasia gigantea are about the size of lettuce seeds and sprout later in the spring, the new seedlings grew extremely fast, peaking in growth at about a new leaf every other day. Now they are even larger than the very first plant I planted. Throughout the summer many passersby have stopped to admire and photograph my magnificent elephant ears and that has been quite gratifying, too!

~Avery Bartlett-Golden is a Horticulture Science major at North Carolina State University.