William, if anyone can start and grow those things, it's you. Do try and tell us how ginger, etc. grew for you.
Sunny

You should have no trouble with alocasia and colocasia. That's just elephant ears right? Some are hardier than others so they might not all make it through the winter if you leave them in the ground but they can do some fast growing over summer and would be worth it even if you just grow them as an annual. Some are hardy enough to leave in the ground in zone 6 (barely).
I'm curious about the ginger. I've seen that here. It might have pretty leaves.

I bought Jicama at a market, not knowing what it was. Just thought it might be something cool since it was a bulb of some sort. I looked it up after I got it home and decided it didn't look very ornamental so I never planted it. It's been sitting in my cabinet for a very long time now, well over a year and still looks the same. At least they store well. lol

i heard there was an oriental food market in harrison. will have to check it out. bet the elephant ears are a lot cheaper at the food market!
william

William do you miss some of the flavors you tried in China? The Web City Farmers market is not an Asian market but has several Asian vendors. I don't know what to do with some of their produce. I have read about some ginger being fragrant; that is what I would like. Tropical is not for me though because I am terrible with house plants.