Caladium

Spectacular foliage ! I love the two caladiums that I have at the moment. They are easy to care for, in fact they do not need any real care except being watered on a regular basis. If the weather gets too hot, they disappeared into the ground. In fact I thought they died, then when it started to rain they just sprout out again from the ground. Caladiums as a a rule do not take to the direct sunlight, but both my caladiums seemed okay with it. The red one ( I think they call it 'Thai Beauty") seemed to thrive in the sun. In the shade it tends to be more green than red, not so colorful.  More sunlight, more red.

This caladium gave me a pleasant surprise when out of the blue, a bud appeared and  there was this 'flower'. There is nothing very spectacular about the flower as you can see from the picture below, but it looks like a  monk with the hood., don't you think so? The flower lasted for almost 5 days, then it just withered away. So far I have been keeping an eye for other blooms, but so far nothing !

Caladiums are supposed to be toxic, not to be ingested. They are relatively pest free, but this little fellow seems to like it. My daughter picked it off  my caladium and decided to keep it as a pet in a glass container.

I propagate my caladiums by removing the baby caladiums as they sprout out to new areas. Caladiums add color to the garden. They are non-invasive and are great to have around. I have seen some people grow them in pots and they really look very ornamental, with their colorful foliage in display. I probably might collect more caladiums as I am a lazy 'gardener' and these plants are so fuss-free!