Page 200 - South Mississippi Living - September, 2025

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Caladiums are some of my favorite plants for summer color. You won’t find a better plant for reliable color in shady areas, and the good news is that there are some varieties that love full sun!
Native to tropical Central and South America, caladiums will grow and bloom until the first hard frost of fall. The 6-12” heart or lance-shaped leaves emerge from the ground with stems that are generally one to two feet tall but can grow taller.
The foliage may be splashed with combinations of white, pink, rose, red, burgundy, and variations of green,
often with several colors combined into wonderful patterns. These bright leaves with their bold texture can embellish our gardens from May until October. They are remarkably free from major insect or disease problems.
In September, caladiums may be getting past their prime, so it’s time to decide
if you want to let them go dormant or dig them up, but, as we live in Zone 8b-9a, they should be okay to stay in
the ground. A great thing about using caladiums as a bedding plant is that you can get more than one year of colorful foliage from your initial investment.
story by Gaye Winter
You may simply leave the caladium tubers (these look like bulbs) in the ground if the bed where the caladiums are planted will stay relatively undisturbed and drains well. Keep the area mulched this winter to protect
the tubers in case it is unusually cold. Because the ground here does not freeze, they will survive and come back up next year.
If the bed tends to stay wet over the winter, the tubers may rot in the cold, wet soil. In this case, it would be best to dig and store them. A few years ago, heavy rains in December apparently
rotted a lot of the caladium tubers
that had been left in the ground. Many gardeners in the New Orleans area, for example, noticed the following spring that caladiums that had come back for years did not return.
If you intend to replant the area
with cool-season bedding plants, like chrysanthemums, ornamental kale or pansies, the tubers can be removed to allow you to do bed preparation for the new plants. Be sure to dig tubers in the fall when the soil temperatures go below 60 degrees.
Dig up caladiums sometime between late September and mid-October. Caladiums planted later in the season usually last longer in the landscape. Caladiums should be dug when the leaves turn yellow and most of the foliage begins to look “tired” and falls over.
Use a small shovel to lift the tubers, being careful not to damage them. Leave the foliage attached to the tubers, shake off the soil, and lay them out in a location sheltered from rain (such as in a garage or under a covered patio) to dry.
200 | September 2025
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