Is the shade permanent? Or is it from deciduous trees? If from trees you could possibly have spring bulbs there before the canopy closes over.

The shade is permanent - from houses :-). Further, these are in containers and generally my experience with perennial bulbs and containers in my zone is that the inconsistent hot/cold springs (such as this past one), causes a lot of start and stop and eventual bulbs turned to mush. So I'm really looking for something I can plant at the beginning of spring.

This was my first year with caladiums. I realize I may have made a newbie mistake, but it caused no harm: I planted the bulbs in the container (May?) well before I later learned most people say to put them out. Most say that could lead to bulb rot - but it did no harm for me. I actually thought they were dead, then mid-July they all popped up with a vengeance.

perennial bulbs and containers in my zone is that the inconsistent
hot/cold springs (such as this past one), causes a lot of start and stop
and eventual bulbs turned to mush. So I'm really looking for something I
can plant at the beginning of spring.

==>> wintering over pots is hard ... timing is imperative ..... two thoughts on the above ....

first .... i found the rotting part.. is a media and water retention problem .... in cold weather .... in my z5 MI ... the pot thaws early ... then it refreezes .. then it snows.. then it thaws .. then it refreezes ... then it rains.. etc ... the stuff rots.. because warm weather plants/bulbs.. dont like standing in cool excessive water .... the weather is simply too variable .... too early ...

second ... one of your problems.. kind of tied into the above... is when spring actually is .... is it possible.. that you are ready for spring.. and actually you are doing things too early ... if you are dealing with cold... then perhaps you are too early .... just because you want to get the season going.. does not mean ma nature will play along ... so i would suggest.. holding off for a week or 3 extra ... before you start moving our your hot soil plants ... think about it.. a bulb that has to be stored for winter.. is not really a cold soil plant ..... i probably wouldnt be planting them until mid to late may in metro detroit .... and i might still be running out to pull them in the garage if frost was predicted ...

i think.. perhaps what peeps used to do with begonia bulbs... you can lay them on moist media/peat ... in the house.. for a couple weeks to get them to trigger growth ... for a couple weeks .... and if you did that instead of going straight outside.. perhaps you can have some garden fun.. yet delay for a few more weeks .... to time it out a bit better ...

which begs the question.. can this be done with caladium ???? .. i dont know.. because i eventually got rid of all the cool plants i had to dig up and store in fall ....

ken

I find it sooooo hard to follow you sometimes, ken. Sigh.

I hope that in all of that meandering you mentioned how important the temperature is for caladiums. They really and truly MUST have consistently warm temperatures in order to begin and stay growing.

You may have said that, but it's a mystery to me, lol.

I have a spider plant I put out every summer. Planted around the edge of basket I planted caladiums that come up every year. even a few of the impatiens reseed themselves in this basket.

I bought a flat of wax begonias with reddish leaves and planted them off to the side of where the caladiums were supposed to grow and they provided some color before and may even provide color after the caladiums die down.

Thanks everyone for your input. I have some ideas, and can definitely fine tune what I did last season. I'm considering planting peas for the first (cool) part of the season, and then planting the caladium bulbs to take over as the heat rises. My caladiums are still going strong, so that should be good enough to carry out the season. Any other ideas?

you can grow peas in shade?

Yes, funny you should mention that. I was reviewing my notes yesterday and indeed I had planted peas as an experiments in that area in another planter. They grew well, so maybe I will just do that again - except use the same planter.