I'm moving Green Angel into a pot..I have 4 wine colored pots included in my total of 70 that are empty..I've always planned to fill them with hosta..it just hasn't happened..Green Angel has wavy edges!Regal Splendor looks good..it occurred to me that elephant ears remind me of hosta..doesn't it make sense that I love both?..I used a deck rail as a tripod to get an eye level view..I discovered tonight that my beautiful lime green coleus has a busted central stem :-( ..cut them out and try to root them?..

I have 13 pots that contain elephant ears..some sit out in the yard..some on the deck..some in a concrete urn..some on the sidewalk along the back of the house..it's amazing to me that an insignificant tuber can grow into such a dramatic plant..Blue Hawaii (behind the caladiums) and June (behind Regal Splendor) are doing well..I have hellebores and Clausa hosta that could be moved into this bed..I'm so happy to see my plants growing..

70 pots, that's a lot of rearranging. It looks so welcoming. Nice pics, esp from deck rail.

Rain ....ugh a 4 letter word to me this year. Pouring, pouring. Farm on my street lost whole crop finally July 4th weekend. 4" rain just that Sunday. $1.2 M loss and no insurance.

I started using caladiums with hostas 2 years ago. Awesome companions and so far my chipmunks don't dig them up and deer don't eat them. I'm going to overwinter them this year and hope they like being dried and in my basement.

Your EEs are so royal looking.

Karin..I LOVE coleus..and they do well in this environment..I love flowers but I think I love foliage more..

pandora..farmers have such heartbreaking stories..none of us can fool mother nature can we?..

thanks for the compliments..NONE of the caladiums, elephant ears, and curcumas are new..only the canna between the chairs is new..and the other cannas were saved from last year..it's actually economical..the only drawback is you have to wait for them to reappear whereas if you buy some annuals you have something pretty immediately..but I love tropical plants and I'm willing to wait..

I have 2 grow light systems on timers in my basement and start flower seeds/bulbs and all my veggies there in March-May so I get a head start. I started over 30 years ago with 1 shop light suspended from ceiling on a rope over a folding table, so I could raise/lower the light as plants grew.

How do you store the caladiums for winter. Could I let them dry in pots or dig and put in bags?

Karin, beautiful coleus. I love them with hostas. But my chippies dig them constantly and chew on them. Someone said chippies need water, so I put a water saucer by each coleus and made no difference.

nw I love how you have everything arranged. Your hosta are looking so good and the ee....fuggedaboutit!

Aw, fantastic ability to overwinter your bulbs, really love your stairs arrangement.

pandora..last fall I left some caladiums in the pots and some I dug up wrapped in newspaper and stored in a shoebox..I left just one pot with elephant ears and dug up all the other EEs but I'm considering leaving everything in the pots this year..it's easier..

oursteelers..thanks!!..a good rain was just what I needed..I have big scale trees, shrubs and perennials so to me big pots with big tropical plants fit right in..

lindalana..I decided it was better to have one big aisle instead of 2 smaller ones so I started at the edges and worked towards the middle..we have broad shallow steps and you don't need a handrail to go up or down..the view from the kitchen is great!..

Love caladiums and coleus. We plant many large coleus each year in containers as well as caladium. Just bought an extremely large leaved elephant ears. Maybe I will try and save that one.

miles..you should save it..you'll be glad you did..

Nicholsworth, thx I have a shoebox all ready. I'll try some with each method and see how it goes.

Miles, do your chipmunks attack your coleus?

pandora..just so you know..I don't clean them..I've read posts where people soak them but I also read that there's less rot if you don't clean them..so I took the easy route..I had 2 caladiums that just fell apart with a little pressure but the rest were fine..

Nicholsworth, your entire set up is stunning. I also love coleus. I find they are easily rooted so I would try that on your lime coleus. Think it can be saved. Thank you for sharing your pictures, they have given me some ideas for next year!

Wide staircase---a perfect placement for your pots! Your elephant ears are doing great! Due to the cool, wet spring I delayed starting my elephant ears indoors except for two bulbs. My largest one said "hurry up. I want to grow!" So I did pot that one earlier. I am not sure what is going to happen to my smaller elephant ears. I don't think they will have had much chance to grow this summer. We'll see.

As for coleus, I do love them too. But this spring the ones in the stores didn't look that good. So I only bought a few. I could only find one of my favorite ones. It just wasn't a good year for nurseries around here I think.

djacob..thanks for the compliment!..pics are so helpful..isn't it great that technology makes photography so easy?..

newhostalady..I love our stairs..so wide and shallow they're effortless to use..they're so wide that big pots fit!..we had this deck built..the one that was here had one narrow side entrance and rails all around (except next to the house)..the rails blocked the view..our design is much better..I hope your elephant ears start growing soon..spring was disappointing for lots of us..I'm happy with the coleus that I found this year..they're such pretty plants..here the impatiens and some types of begonias were too ugly to buy..