I am in 7b and have overwintered both successfully.

Good luck with yours!

Sally

Susan- what a score and from Lowe's! Wow! Since you are alos in Z7, I'm going to check out my local Lowes and HD. Maybe I'll luck up and find the beautiful Illustris.:))

GH

GH - Good luck! I make one annual trip to Lowe's (it's on the other side of the city from where I live), and it never fails that I find something unusual there. The pots are about 2-3 gallon pots and the plants are 3-4' tall; I picked out ones with several stems.

Oh, they also had 'Yellow Splash', and an arum (arrowhead) that had bronzy green leaves. I may go back tomorrow and get the other two. What a deal! They were $14.95 for each of them. They're higher than that at Plant Delights plus you have to pay shipping.

Susan

Hi Susan,

Colocasia fontanesii always comes back for me, though it is close some winters. C. antiquorum 'Illustris' also comes back, but it has given me heart attacks. This year, for instance, I thought I had lost it. I now have 4 pups that have decided to show up, though the mother plants didn't make it.

In your zone 7A, your odds will be worse than mine, but give them a go anyway. The good thing about these varieties is that they throw runners so you can pot up a few pups before the first hard frost and then overwinter them in a window. They need next to no sunlight to survive the winter, and will stay a more manageable size if you don't baby them. I have a basment window shaded by a foundation plant which does very well for this purpose.

Brian, so far I have overwintered the regular EEs and the Giant Upright, just fine. As I may have mentioned, I just throw a bag of mulch or soil over the top in the fall (after the leaves have melted down). They just about give me a heart attack, too, waiting for them to sprout. I really thought I'd done it this year when I snapped off the top of the mother bulb, revealing it's mushy white insides. I have 5 stalks coming up (this is the Giant Upright). Does this mean I have 4 or 5 babies?

Also, if I decide to dig them up in the fall, do you just dig down as deep as you can to get some or all of the roots, and pot it up in a pot with regular potting soil, or what?

Thanks, I appreciate the input.

Susan