Last year when Jon and I were wandering with E around a trail at a nearby park, we stumbled upon a delightful little grove of these gigantic Elephant Ears surrounding a rock, which made for a really cute photo spot for E. After seeing that, I felt inspired to grow Elephant Ears too, even though I had seen them before in Singapore and never really paid much attention.
Anyway, during a warm week in March, I planted 3 Elephant Ear bulbs near where the old dead Pin Oak had been in our front lawn (see, patch of dead/struggling grass in the foreground). The few weeks after that though, it got cold and the ground froze again. Plus it even snowed in April for a day, if I recall. I was sure that the Elephant Ears were a goner, because the bulbs are susceptible to rot and freeze damage. To my surprise however, 2 of them started to emerge around June.
Today, in the first week of September, the plants still stand - though not as impressive as those I remember from the park. They're about waist high for me, so slightly less than a metre tall. Still, given that I had planted them early and did nothing to help them thrive after (besides ringing them with rocks to protect them from the lawn mowing people), they've done a good job for themselves. The variety I bought could also be the reason for their height, it seems like there are many types of Elephant Ears, with some single bulbs alone retailing for $15 or more. It remains to be seen of course, whether I remember to dig these fellow up when they've died back to the ground, and whether I will plant them in again next year.
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