I aquire all my specimens thru ebay, as long as they have a reputable feedback score.

Hi, Rockyn! I'm just a few miles North of you in OKC. There is another member who is in Dallas and I'm sure they will respond also.

I have purchased some of my EEs from Plant Delights. CHeck them out at www.plantdelights.com. They have alocasias, colocasias, and xanthosomas, too. They also have the big Mr. Stinkies - amorphophallus that some of us like, too, and a few other aroids. Another good site to check out is www.aroid.org. You can see lots of pictures of different kinds. A&B Tropicals and Asiatica also sell them online.

I have been lucky and a few trips to Lowe's and Home Depot have yielded a few like Alocasia plumbea nigra, Colocasia esculenta 'Black Magic', Colocasia esculenta 'Illustris', and Colocasia esculenta 'Fontanesii'. From PD I have purchased Colocasia 'Ruffles', and 'Thai Giant'. I also have Alocasia macrorhiza that I bought as a tuber labeled "upright EE".

Black Magic, as name indicates has black foliage. It needs a bit of sun so the leaves will remain black. Otherwise it reverts to green. Illustris is a green/black mottled leaf; fontanesii is a puplish-black-green leaf.

As a rule, Alocasia leaves point upwards, and colocasia leaves droop. Xanthosoma I am not too sure what sets it aside in another class; I'm sure someone else will pop in and 'splain it. Thai Giant can eventually get leaves about 5' across; probably not in my garden, but it will be large, very large. There are also some alocasias/colocasias will yellow mottling in the leaves. One that I have recently purchased was Alocasia lutea. The veins and stems are yellow - it is gorgeous. Others like Hilo Beauty and Nancy's Revenge have yellow markings as well.

Sometimes you just get lucky at HD or Lowe's or at your local garden center, or making trades with others. But, as I just started, it's difficult to make trades until you have enough stock. Some or most can be wintered over in the ground - that I have anyway.

Happy Aroid Growing.....

Susan

So many questions :-)

First of all, the grower that supplies the big home centers and nurseries in Dallas has them all selling Alocasia gageana as Colocaisa "California". I don't think there is really any such thing as a Colocasia called "California".

This is one of the easiest of all Alocasias to grow, not needing perfect drainage as most Alocasias nor nearly as much water as a Colocasia. These are really rhizomes rather than tubers and with age they form above ground "trunks" that need protection from freezing, I pile dry leaves around them. When they get ga-normous as yours did the easiest way to deal with them is to cut them into sections as you did and plant deeply to protect from freezing.

Xanthosomas don't need or want nearly as much water as Colocasias.

Per your question on the scammin' post below. I think the photo on the left is Alocaisa macrorhizos which agrees with the photos of the flowers on the far right. The photo in the center is Colocasia gigantea which agrees with their discription as having appendages on the leaves :) The Colocasia gigantea takes a LOT of water. I wouldn't have time to grow it without drip irrigation.

The photo in the center is very old and familiar. I think these auctions are usually withdrawn when someone complains about copyright infringement on the photos rather than the other inaccurate info.

Have fun,
Keiko

A couple more places i've ordered from with good results are Brent and Becky's Bulbs and Natural Selections Exotics. The latter one was hit pretty hard by Hurricane Wilma and may not be accepting orders for awhile, but they're an excellent place to get rarer things. B&B have lots of other bulbs and not very many aroids (yet--they seem to be adding them) but I've been very pleased with them. Also, if like me you're happy to get a small plant and spend the money saved on postage on more plants (of course!) sometimes Logee's has some.

Thanks for the answers, folks.

Keiko, I missed the photos you described. Will look in the other posting and see if there's something juicy there.

Finding local dealers (HD, Lowes, tons of small nurseries) is easy. What I don't seem to see is much conclusive info as to difficulty to raise. The metallica I had was gorgeous and did well during the growing season. It came from HD. And it didn't rise from dormancy -prolly needed the major mulch y'all have been talking about lately.

The descriptions on the onine nurseries tell me how beautiful, how big, how rare, etc. Occasionally they throw in a water neediness rating. But there's not much on how finicky or easy each one is.

Keiko, you mentioned the Xans not wanting much water. But I saw a dealer yesterday describe Xans as being good bog plants. I R confused!

Maybe folks could tell me which EEs they have had the most/least trouble with.

Thanks for your help!

Like all plants within the same family or species, Xanthosomas are all individuals and some can be used as bog plants, where others will simply decline and rot.

Xanthosomas that can be grown as bog plants, aquatic marginals, or directly in the pond include, but are not limited to, Xanthosoma violacea, Xanthosoma "Lime Zinger", and Xanthosoma saggitifolia. Xanthosoma "jaquinii" likes a LOT of water but likes to dry out between with excellent drainage, as does Xanthosoma atrovirens albo-marginata (Mickey Mouse Taro).

Virtually all of the colocasias can be grown as bog or pond plants, but it isn't necessary, they can also grow as normal terrestrial plants but you MUST water them, especially if they are in the sun. You can't just ignore them.

Most alocasias do not like to sit in water. The variegated one, macrorhizza albo-variegata, will tolerate bog conditions and I have grown them actually in ponds. But most alocasia will rot in too much water.

I have never had a problem with the large trunking alocasias freezing, but then, we get very little actual freezing weather here. I have several very large specimens of Odora, gagnea, Portodora, sinuata, and culculatta which have formed trunks over the years, and the leaves will all freeze off in winter, but the trunks are fine. They have been in the ground over 10 years with no protection to about 20F

I did a garden survey this morning, and the A. macrorhiza is still standing and looking gorgeous. We have had temps in the low 30's recently, so my backyard microclimate is doing it's thing. The colocasias are in dormancy, except for Thai Giant, which is still standing and looking great, too. Another kudo for the backyard mc.

Dan, if you check in here, my little sauromatum venosum that I told you several weeks back had sprouted a leaf while packed with the others in peat moss afer arrival from mail order? The foliage is still going strong and looks even better now. What is the deal with this little guy? It seems to be taking the cold weather like a little champ!

Susan

Hello, I'm new to the forums, and new to EE's. I was just trying to find care instructions for a Micky Mouse EE (Xanthosoma Atrovirens Albo Marginata) and was unaware of the rarity of this particular one. I found it in a nursery in the Arkansas River Valley for $5.00!!! The nursery owner actually has an orchid fetish, but there were some bananas and EE's in the mix. I don't know if she has other varieties of EE's but her business is called "Awesome Botanicals of a Celestial Nature" She is located in London, AR. Her email is . My friend and I bought quite a few plants from her. My friend found some black aphids on a (huge) orchid that she bought... other than that everything else was pretty clean and healthy.

If anyone has any tips on care and feeding of my little 6 inch tall Albo, I sure would appreciate it. Right after I put it in the ground (around April 5th) we had snow and 16 degree overnight temps. I dug it up and kept it in the kitchen for about a week until the nighttime temps were above 50 degrees. Then right after I replanted it, the overnight temps dropped into the high 30's. I was afraid of too many transplant shocks, so I covered it with an inverted bucket and a towel. It still has its original three leaves but one of them looks a little dry around the edges and is laying on the ground. the other two almost look like they are drying out too but are still standing up. I actually live in the Ozark Mountains at about 2000 foot elevation. The nursery owner said he leaves his Albo in the ground year round with mulch, but he is a zone 7 down in the Arkansas River Valley. I'm assuming that I will need to dig mine up for the zone 6 winters up here(?). Any advise would be greatly appreciated.... Thanks Su

I still have not figured out why Mickey Mouse is so uncommonly sold and so pricey when found (usually) because they multiply like CRAZY. It freezes to the ground here every winter and comes back twice as strong the next spring.
If I were you I would leave it out and let it get going this summer, and when winter rolls around, if it has multiplied, dig up a portion and then also leave a portion and see how it is at your place.
I have never found Mickey to be too picky, mine come back even after the deer eat them. As long as there's a rhizome in the ground, they leaf back out.

Whenever we visit Austin we go to Barton Springs Nursery. Lovely nursery, great plants, including aroids. I have gotten tubers at Shoal Creek Nursery, too.