pink china elephant ear

cuja1 · Post by **cuja1** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 9:44 pm

Anyone ever tried to grow a pink china elephant ear in zone 5? I've heard that with mulch they are just as hardy as musa basjoo.

canadianplant · Post by **canadianplant** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 5:38 am

The only EE ive heard that is even close to being hardy to zone 5 would be colocasia fallax, not the most common one. Just to clarify you are talking colocasia, not say, brunnera or something?

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 11:06 am

I had some kind of Colocasia that I planted during my big Elephant ear year.

Whatever it was came back a couple years in a row with nothing resembling mulch over it...

Of all things it was not the cold that got it but the drought as it went into decline after a year.

miketropic · Post by **miketropic** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 12:14 pm

would be interested to know since my friend is the breeder of Pink China. Would be really interesting to find out if it could make it in zone 5a/5b

cuja1 · Post by **cuja1** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 4:53 pm

I got this one from Michigan Bulb Company

<a href="http://s1250.photobucket.com/user/Sprin ... 6.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1250.photobucket.com/albums/hh5 ... de0476.jpg" border="0" alt="Pink China Elephant Ear photo PinkChinaEE1_zpsc8de0476.jpg"/></a>

sorry it's sideways. They said it's hardy to zone 6. If you look on this site http://www.manchestergardenclub.com/ric ... ntered.htm he talks about his coming back every year even without mulch. I believe the author of that article is in a zone 5b maybe 5a.

cuja1 · Post by **cuja1** » Fri Jul 12, 2013 4:55 pm

I'll probably leave mine outside next year, I'd like it to get some size on it first.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Wed Jul 24, 2013 6:35 pm

I got some pink China last fall but didn't plant out until this spring. It's thriving......not sure how hardy it will be.

cuja1 · Post by **cuja1** » Wed Jul 24, 2013 10:16 pm

Are you planning on leaving it in the ground over winter Tim?