Lynn, I always start caladiums indoors, usually in a plastic shoebox in the bathroom where I always have heat on. You have to keep in mind that most are grown and propagated in Florida or similar climate-- they do not like cold! Our soil is not warm enough until late June, usually! They are well worth the extra effort though. I have always transplanted them to containers.

Thank you Jo Ann and Connie. I've never grown caladium before. I will try potting them up and keeping them indoors until everything warms up.
Sun, Shade, something in between?

Jo Ann It could have been either a skunk or even an opossum. That's why I don't put kitchen scrapes in any of my containers or raised beds. I do add it to the compost pile. Once it disintegrates the critters no longer find it interesting.

We dont do kitchen scraps either we do put eggshells. They might be coming for those.

Lynn, "something in between" is what you need. Do you have bulbs now (actually tubers, I think)?

Tubers. They are in a bag filled with with some type of fine moss?

Lynn,yes thats just paking material. Dont panic if you cant determine which way the bulb it up. I look for teeeny pointie things but the plants seeem to sprout and find their way to the surface anyhow.

And if you are total doubt about which way is up, you can plant it on its side. It's better than planting it upside down.
Of course, I would know nothing about planting things upside down...

LOL

StaticAsh said:And if you are total doubt about which way is up, you can plant it on its side. It's better than planting it upside down.
Of course, I would know nothing about planting things upside down...

Okay, I will clean up one of my larger containers and give it a try.

I planted several for a friend yesterday...after reading about the cold soil and all that, I hope they do something!! They are in pots rather than the ground and its been warm, so I think they should do great!

David has talked me into hunting down my "smalls" and doing some collages like his.
My stuff is mostly Hippi Jewelry and some artsy fish with fused glass but I did manage one or two.

You do the mini world well, Jo Ann! I love the blue-green angel fish, very cool!

It sure gives it the feel of an ocean scene Jo Ann. Great staging with the underwater plants.

Reminds me that I have some old stuff from when I had an aquarium!! :P I'll copy!

I am officially sick of squirrels. I have replanted the same semp in the same planter 3 times since 7 o'clock this morning.
Finally a solution.



here is the rest of the semp garden

That pot's "new look" will blend in with the rest of the pot colony in no time...

That poor red semp. It's still hangin in there but mighty dry roots. I had to find it a week ago.The kritter seems to like that pot.

They really do seem to chose a favorite and keep coming back to just that plant. Happens here also. I started putting the nursery trays over my new plants. Seems to be working well.

It seems the semp pots are the favorite haunt for kritters. Other planters are filling in and rooting enough so they cant be dislodged. In another week we should be in good shape but semps might need the whole season to become anchored.

The Blue Jays can cause havoc here for me. They seem to be fascinated by certain semps and won't leave them alone.