i've been cooling off up north from the blistering heat of NYC - so didn't check my msgs. so am a little late here.
i grow caladiums both indoors (completely) and combo - start /end indoors + summer on the balcony. I take them in when temps at night drop below 65F.
You need to give them sun indoors for at least 4 hours - west or east is best , with late/early sun. 6 hours is even better. I have one corner that gets both early east and west sun - that's where they do best.
Some varieties (usually marked as sun tolerant) will need to be in south window. But they don't like very hot sun - so high noon can scorch them. blinds slightly closed provide good dappled moving sun, but only in south window, anywhere else they have to be close to the window and IN the sun, otherwise they get leggy.
Best to start them in april-may in the sunny window. i also provide bottom heat, as they won't grow until the soil temps go above 65F, best if 70F. 85f on the mat with moist medium (tented) is best - they'll produce leaves in a month. otherwise it can take 2 mo.
they'll go dormant in early fall (sep-oct) and slowly lose all leaves. I keep them in pots and clean them up and restart in late spring. The larger varieties with larger corms are easier to overwinter. Small corms even in pots tend to die.
my best is C. 'Red Flash' - very large. i've had it for 9 years now and it was good sized when i bought it. So probably it's close to 12 years old.
You can see my plant list about others that i have - i put some growing info there too.
@robertbruce - have a look at
http://plantsarethestrangestpe... - it's both entertaining and very informative.
search for houseplants (on the right sidebar) - you'll see many categories: which are easiest, most difficult, which bloom, low-high light etc. the top 10 , the best 100...you can spend weeks reading it. Some comments after posts are also informative.
