elephant ears-hardiness??

Hi does anyone have any experience with elephant ears? I am in zone 7b in the Peidmont Region of NC, love the really dark purple ones. Just wondering if they are hardy here.

Where I come from elephant ears are pastry.

I wondered, why does s/he want hardiness, just eat them all up!

; D

Hi Luna, I know what you mean about the pastry, that's what they are where I come from too, but check out these pictures. They are georgeous and exotic plants!!

They are beautiful...I hope you get more useful answers than mine. : )

Sorry, I have the same question myself. This is the first year that I have planted them. Mine have definitely grown too large to bring inside. From the reading that I have done it is suggested that they be dug up and overwintered in a cool dark place. Not a freezing place, but cool.

Do a google search and see what info you can find. I plan to take a chance on them staying where they are and hoping that they come back. If they don't come back, I will spend another $2.97 for another bulb at Walmart.

Good luck and let us know what you find. And, I am in zone 7 also.

Ruby

Try asking in the tropicals forum. There are a lot of people who grow elephant ears there. I recently chatted with a member who was digging up hers for the winter. I wondered if they wouldn't take the cold with mulch and she said it's the winter wet that kills them as much as the cold.

lgamb, hart's right - it's the "winter wet" that they hate. In Z7b they might be hardy for you, but if you don't want to take a chance of losing them, dig them and store for the winter. We have to dig ours - we overwinter them in the dark area of our cool basement and bring them outside after all chances of frost are gone. They're a little slow to leaf out in the spring, but once the warmer temps arrive they take off again.

Debbie

Ditto to Debbie...I have one coming in a trade and they suggested digging them up...sounds fairly easy to do. Can't wait to see those beautiful big leaves next spring/summer

Our basement is very warm, and our garage is variable. Does anyone have a good suggestion where to overwinter elephant ears when those two options don't work?

Happy, any place that stays dry and the temps don't drop below freezing should work. Also, we have a friend who swears by "double digging" - planting them in a hole that's twice as deep as normal so the plant would be below the frost line and mulch heavily over the winter. Never tried it so not sure if it really works.

RCN48: Thanks for the suggestions. I'm afraid the swings in termperature would be a problem -- but my garage shouldn't freeze, so I'll try it.

I'm intruiged by your friend's suggestion. Does she replant the same plants in the spring at a higher level to the roots are where they are "supposed" to be?

Happy, sorry to be so long in responding, we've been away since Friday. "He" (my friend) just waits for them to push up out of the ground. He's a "wanna-be" Florida gardener and is always testing the limits on plants that are questionably hardy for this area. It takes a little longer because they're planted so deep, but once the soil warms up they catch up with everything else. They're always slow anyway in late spring since they really need the higher temps to show their growth - at least in this area. But boy, once they do - look out!

I'm definitely going to try that approach -- thanks for suggesting it!

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am also growimg Elephant Ears for the forst tim this year.
The base of the stem on mine are almost as bg around as the original bulb was!
I have also been wondering what to do with it for th winter.

If you all agree, I will dig mine up and save it in my basement in a box with dry shpagnum Moss or newspaapers all crubled up around it.

Thanks,, Gita

Is that the best way? In a box with dry moss or newspapers? Next year I want to plant my elephant ears in a raised bed instead of in a pot. This year they were in a pot and HAD to be watered every other day or they would wilt. They were huge and pretty, though, and I only got them at Wal-Mart.

I just stuck my pots in the garage (slightly heated) and they all did fine -- except for one of the newer varieties, which didn't come back. I understand some of them don't store enough energy in the bulb to make it through the winter.

I had ALL of mine last year in pots...I simply brought the pots in...cut them back and decreased their water - they went dormant. Starting watering GRADUALLY (please don't drown them, like I attempted to do mine) come late Feb - or March-ish....whaa laaaa!!! Decided this year that I wanted BRUGS!!!! So only kept the dark EE's that are border line hardy...they're in the ground...we'll see how they fair come spring...mulching everything to death this weekend.

I'm in a colder zone than you so I always dug mine up every year and stored in
wood shavings in a box in the basement. Well... I got lazy one year and left one
outside over the winter about 4 years ago. Its come back every year! Its growing
in the always-moist soil by my spring. My theory is that the spring waters keep it
above freezing all winter.