Caladiums

Caladiums are popular plants that add an exotic flare to landscapes and flower beds. They have colorful, heart, lance or arrowhead shaped leaves. The most common colors for caladiums are pink/rose, red and white.

Also called elephant ears, the beautifully colored foliage can brighten up shady spots. Varieties with large heart shaped leaves work best for larger planting areas and are very showy. Smaller varieties with lanced shaped leaves tend to work better in containers. But they all look good and do well so just plant what you like.

Caladiums are easy to grow. Don’t plant them too early. Wait for consistent warmer weather that heats up the soil (70F soil temp is preferred). Plant them about the same time you would plant peppers.

They do best in warm, moist soil that has a lot of organic matter incorporated into it. Caladiums grow from bulbs and the bulbs will rot if the soil stays too wet. Conversely, never let the soil dry out completely. Keep them evenly moist.

For best results in flower bed and landscapes the more you plant, the better the color impact.

Plant Caladiums in full shade to partial shade. Partial shade can be filtered light or a spot where there is no more than a few hours of sunlight. Avoid spots that get the hot, afternoon or evening sun.

Plant 6-12″ apart. They can range from 6-12″ tall up to 1-3 feet tall depending on the variety.

We produce caladiums in two sizes – #4/1801 and #6 Premium for the common varieties and #4.5 Premium for upgrade/fancy varieties.

The Caladium varieties in our 1801 Caladium and #6 Premium Annual categories are:

• Carolyn Wharton – pink with red veins and green margins. 12-24″ tall
• Fannie Munson – pink with dark pink veins and green margins. 18-30″ tall
• Pink Beauty – mottled pink with green margins. 12-24″ tall
• Pink Cloud – pink with green margins. some sun tolerance. 18-30″ tall
• Florida Cardinal – bright red center with medium green margins. 12-24″ tall
• Frieda Hemple- deep red with green margins. Lighter red than Postman Joyner. 12-24″ tall
• Postman Joyner- popular red with dark green margins. 12-24″ tall
• Red Flash – dark red with fuchsia spots and green margins. good sun tolerance. 18-30″ tall
• Aaron- white with green margins. 18-30″ tall
• Candidum- popular white with green margins. 12-24″ tall
• June Bride- white with green veins and green margins. 12-24″ tall
• White Christmas- white with green veins and a thicker green margin. 12-24″ tall

New for 2021, we added a #4.5 Premium Caladium line up of premium Caladium varieties:

• Florida Fantasy – white with pink veins. some sun tolerance. 12-18″ tall
• Gingerland – white with red spots and green margins. some sun tolerance. 8-14″ tall
• Miss Muffet – yellowish green with white veins and red spots. some sun tolerance. 8-14″ tall
• Rosalie – red with green margins. 12-18″ tall
• Florida Sweetheart – pink with green margins. some sun tolerance. 6-12″ tall.
• White Wing – white with green margins. some sun tolerance. 6-12″ tall