The Latest Hot Thing

Elephant Ears

This is a catchall phrase for the large, heart-shaped leaf plants (alocasias and colocasias) from the Asian tropics. Many varieties have been developed in recent years, including versions with dark, almost black, leaf surfaces and white venation. These include the African mask plant ( Alocasia amazonica ) and the varieties Black Velvet, Black Stem and Frydek. The variety Lutea has yellow stems. The clumps of leaves vary in size from just 12 inches to several feet, and the leaves can extend as much as 30 inches or more.

You can grow them indoors in winter or cut them back after frost, when their tubers are lifted and stored indoors. They grow well in rich, moist but well-drained soil and are good in containers. They perform best in light shade, but make a good plant for a shadier part of the garden in containers free of root competition.

Bananas

Once, a banana plant growing outdoors was a neighborhood event. Today, many varieties and hybrids have been developed for ornamental use. The plants can be grown as annuals outdoors, and will attain nine feet or more in one season. Dwarf varieties growing to four feet have been developed for container use, including Dwarf Cavendish and a related species, Musella lasiocarpa .

The hardiest is the Japanese banana, sometimes called Basjoo. It grows to 15 feet and its roots are winter-hardy in the mid-Atlantic region. This is one of two available at Home Depot this spring (Mangum also is supplying the Abyssinian red banana, with its maroon stems and leaf coloration, which will need digging if you want it to survive the winter).

One-gallon plants sell for $9.99, three-gallon versions for $19.99. The former soon catch up with the latter in size once the weather warms. They require frequent watering and feeding for vigorous growth. Banana "trees" (actually giant tender perennials) don't need staking, though they should be sheltered from high winds, which will tear the leaves. They make good accents in borders but need other big and leafy plants around them to look natural. These varieties have been developed for their leaf ornament rather than flower and fruit.

Cannas

Mangum is supplying Home Depot with original and gold versions of the canna lily named Tropicanna and developed for its striking orange- and red-striped purple foliage. It grows to four feet in containers, taller in garden beds, and, like the banana, responds to watering and feeding.

The tropical craze also has sustained interest in more traditional patio container plantings such as caladiums and coleus. Caladiums remain a showy foliage plant for dark shade. Mangum and his growers also have cranked up production of cloned coleus.

Additional sources: Local garden centers and, on the Internet, at Brent & Becky's Bulbs,http://www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com/; Plant Delights,http://www.plantdelights.com/; and Glasshouse Works,http://www.glasshouseworks.com/.