Their leaves are the caladium's main asset. The leaves do look like the floppy ears of those giant pachyderms, except caladiums are low-growing and the leaves perk up like open umbrellas. The other names (Heart of Jesus and angel wings) still refer to the shape of the leaves, although tinged with some religiosity. The red Heart of Jesus alludes to the bleeding heart of Jesus.
Caladium "Red Siam"
White and green Bicolor
The most common and perhaps the parent of most of the hundreds of varieties of caladium is the bicolor white and green. They predominate the tropics (Central and South America) where the perennial bulbs originate. They love long dry and wet seasons, but they have also been grown in colder regions although the tubers (sometimes called bulbs by some people) need lifting and storage in dry areas in Zone 7 or colder.
Caladiums are low maintenance
For gardeners who love no-fuss but high appeal plants, you will love caladiums. They are one of the exceptionally low maintenance plants, rivalling hostas and ornamental grasses. Bonus: caladiums go well with hostas and ornamental grasses.
Caladiums are tropical plants. They prefer temperatures above 20 Celsius. So, if you live in temperate areas, wait for the right temperature to plant caladium bulbs or tubers in your garden. You can jumpstart your caladiums by growing them indoor in moist growing mix. Transplant outdoors when the temperature is past 20 Celsius.
Though considered tropical plants, caladiums prefer shade or part shade. Newer varieties tend to be sun tolerant, like green and red-centered 'Red Flash' and 'Rosebud.'
Modern caladiums are bigger, brighter, and easier to grow than ever. They're not water-thirsty, are hardly bothered by insects and diseases, and don't require lots of pruning or deadheading till September in colder climates. They look great from July to September in temperate regions but look attractive entire year-round in the topics.
Caladiums are this blog's focus of interest.
Many varieties of caladiums
Caladiums have come a long, long way from the typical heart-shaped white-splotched, shade-loving plants of yesteryears. They come in a psychedelic range of color combinations, sometimes harmonic, sometimes almost bizarre, yet all are beautiful and desirable.
Now, caladium leaves come in more colors than the rainbow, with varying hues and tones. The edges of the leaves are no longer only plain edged as more caladium plants have been developed to assume serrated, corrugated, frilled, pointed, and various other configurations. Even the old plain-edged leaves now come as smooth, rough, thick, thin, or sharp-edged. The shape of the leaves has become variants of the heart-shaped originals.
The varieties of caladium have become staggering, as people purposely and sometimes inadvertently hybridize this already versatile eye-candy. Plant breeders even reach out online to promote their products.
Many caladium varieties sport mottled looks, looking like tie-dyed works of art, while most still have mirror-image punctuations, depressions, and colorations.
Heat-tolerant varieties have been developed, so caladium no longer merely reigns as the queen of the shade.
The colorful beauty also comes in diverse sizes, from diminutive ground-huggers to statuesque five-footers; from vigorous, almost invasive, spreaders through their tubers to very behaved plants that stay in one place for years. My former schoolmates, Agnes Shari Tan Aliman, Chito Delorino, Annie Maglangit Daniel, and many others have shown enviable varietals of caladium.
Caladiums rarely flower, but their beautiful foliage guarantees a colorful show wherever they are planted -- beneath trees, between shrubs, in perennial borders, and in containers, you name it, the emerging plantitas and plantitos have been very innovative and creative with siting their caladium specimen or collection.
Flowers of caladiums may be faintly sweet-smelling but look quite lewd, resembling human reproductive organs, eeewww.
Caladium prefers shade or part shade and moisture-retentive soil to thrive and multiply fast. It survives part sun, but the leaves look haggard when intense sunlight blazes on them. Coloration may also diminish in full sun.
Be warned, some people have reported that the plant is toxic if ingested and may cause contact dermatitis for those with sensitive skin.
WHERE/HOW TO PLANT CALADIUMS
SPECIMEN PLANT: Use one type of caladium to create an undulating sea of leaves. This method works best when you have a very large garden space, and you want to fill it up with the most visual impact.
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For more on caladiums, click on y blog story: https://sansenleevendiola.wordpress.com/2024/09/17/aha-those-are-caladiums/
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