Planting fancy-leaved caladiums is an inexpensive and straightforward way of having abundant color in your summer garden.
No foliage plants outrank them in brilliance or ease of cultivation, and many modern varieties are as popular flowering plants.
These tropical caladiums are splendid for partially shaded places where most blooming plants will not give their best.
They are also lovely in outdoor beds, window and porch boxes, tubs, and pot plants for indoor decoration.
Give them a try if you want something a little different, and you will not be disappointed.
Fancy-Leaved Caladium Varieties
There are dozens of fancy-leaved caladiums are available commercially, ranging in color from that of the popular Candinum, with its snow-white leaves traced with narrow veins of green and of deceivingly delicate appearance Angel Wings, which has bright red leaves margined and spotted with green.
Caladiums are substantial plants, lush in growth and noble in appearance. They attain a height of 1’ or 2’ feet and have predominantly heart-shaped, or shield-shaped leaves of considerable size carried on stout stalks that spring directly from the tubers.
In some varieties, the leaves are opaque and solid-looking, while in others, they are of delicate texture and are semitransparent.
Their exquisite colorings and patterns suggest the loveliness of stained glass windows.
Flower-Bearing Caladiums
Although considered to be foliage plants and grown primarily for the beauty of their leaves, caladiums do bear flowers, and these are pretty interesting.
The flowers or the inflorescences (the botanists’ word for a grouping of many flowers) resemble those of the jack-in-the-pulpit.
They also show a marked similarity to the inflorescences of calla lilies and exotic anthuriums.
All these plants belong to the same botanical family, the Araceae.
In all of them, the inflorescence consists of a central column (spadix) beset with many tiny flowers and a showy, petal-like spathe that spreads from the column’s base and, in calla-lilies, jack-in-the-pulpits, and caladiums surround it.
In caladiums, the inflorescences sometimes rise slightly above the foliage, but more often, they are hidden or partially hidden among it.
They usually are cream-colored and are often attractively marked with some of the colorings that characterize the leaves.
Individual inflorescences do not remain attractive long—a day or two at most—but they are charming.
They may even be cut and used as items of interest in a luncheon table flower arrangement or similar.
If you grow caladiums, watch for their flowers.
Simply Caladium Culture
The culture of caladiums is simple. They will flourish if you give them humus-rich soil, plenty of warmth, ample moisture, and generous fertilization.
Light shade is advantageous but not essential. Caladiums can also be grown successfully in full sun, but they need a sheltered location where they are not subjected to sweeping winds.
Buy Good-Quality Caladium Tubers
Begin your caladium adventures by purchasing good-quality tubers anytime late winter to June.
You will have no difficulty doing this because the finest American-grown samples are readily available from dealers and moderately priced.
The tubers can be planted directly outdoors when the weather is hot and settled—about tomato planting season—a little before it is safe to set out tropical water lilies.
In the North, however, it is usual to start them into growth indoors and plant the growing plants outdoors from pots so that an earlier display of color is assured.
The tubers are started by planting them (8 weeks before they are to be set outdoors) in flats (shallow boxes) or pans or pots containing a mixture of equal parts of peat moss and sand or leaf mold and sand.
Allow 2” inches free space between the tubers and cover them with the rooting mixture to a depth of about 1” inch.
If a greenhouse is not available, you may provide sufficient warmth (a temperature of 70° to 80° degrees Fahrenheit) to induce rapid growth by placing the flats or pots inside a larger box and standing them on a radiator.
To keep humidity inside the box high, do the following:
- Place 1” inch of peat moss, cinders, or moss in its bottom first, and keep it moist.
- Cover the box with a sheet of glass.
- At first, the rooting material must be kept just moist, certainly not very wet.
When the new growth is 1” or 2” inches high, do these:
- Remove the box from the radiator.
- Shortly afterward, when the tubers have an abundance of roots about 2” inches long, plant them individually in 5-inch pots.
- At this potting, use a mixture of 1 part topsoil, 2 parts peat moss (or leafmold), 1 part coarse sand, and ½ part of dried cow manure.
- Place an inch or so of crocks or coarse cinders in the bottom of each pot to assure good drainage, and press the potting mixture moderately firmly but not hard about the roots.
- Keep the plants growing in good light where a temperature of 65° to 75° degrees Fahrenheit is maintained, and the air is not excessively dry.
- After growth has begun sufficiently, the soil must remain moist.
- Spraying the foliage with clear water 2 or 3 times a day will stimulate growth.
Prepare the soil outdoors by doing the following:
- Spread the soil deeply and mix generous amounts of compost, peat moss, rotted manure, leaf mold, or other decayed organic matter.
- Also, mix in ½ pound of bonemeal and ⅓ pound of a 5-10-5 or similar complete garden fertilizer to each square yard of surface.
Proper Soil Requirements
Caladiums thrive best in soil that is loose and lively with organic matter.
The moisture they must have, but low-lying, poorly drained or waterlogged ground is not their liking.
Window or porch boxes and tubs in which caladiums are grown must be adequately drained.
Set the plants 12” to 18” inches apart and water them thoroughly.
Simple Summer Caladium Care
Summer care is simple. Water the plants copiously whenever the soil approaches dryness.
It must never be allowed to become dry. Every 2 or 3 weeks, give a light application of a complete fertilizer.
When frost damages the foliage, dig the plants and keep them in a warm, dry place.
When the foliage has dried, clean it off and store the tubers overwinter in dry sand, peat moss, or vermiculite at 60° to 65° degrees Fahrenheit.
Planting Tubers In Pots
The started tubers may be planted singly in 5″ inch pots and later repotted into larger containers for pot culture. Or they may be set 3 or 4 together in 8″ to 10″ inch pots or pans.
Apply diluted liquid fertilizer once the pots are well filled with healthy roots once a week.
Potted caladiums grown indoors are not ordinarily subjected to frost.
Despite this, their leaves will begin to yellow when fall comes and die down without new leaves replacing them.
When this happens, do the following:
- Gradually increase the spacings between waterings and finally withhold water altogether.
- Clean off the tubers and store them as advised for outdoor-grown specimens.
Caladiums offer an excellent color with the need for blooms. Try them in your garden.