We are just beginning to put together a small collection of the most dramatic and best behaved members of this amazing genus. We quickly learnt that the zantedeschias are just the beginning:

Colocasia Esculenta Fontanesii

It's big and it is clever! This one grows to six feet tall (with lots of water and rich compost) with huge leaves and amazing purple (almost black) stems it is also hardy (in our garden).

Colocasi Esculenta Black Magic

This one is notoriously hard to over-winter. We will try by keeping it very dry, but just in growth. It is also said not tp produce runners like other colocasias, but one of our is. Will grow as tall as Fontanesii with black leaves as well as stems.

 Alocasia Macrorrhizos

Potentially a very large plant to 12 ft. It is borderline hardy but will stay small. You will need a 60 litre pot at least and a greenhouse (preferably heated) to get it big. I always seem to find other plants to take up the space.

Colocasi Esculenta Nancy's Revenge

We picked this one up over the internet. The leaves stay green but the veins become much paler and wider. It is supposed to be easy to overwinter. We shall see. I was wondering if the name relates to Anansi, especially given the red spider mite problems that colocasias are prone to. I expect the truth is something more mundane.

Alocasia Macorrhizos

This one has survived two winters outside with us but has then been quite late and disappointing in growth. This year we will keep it in the heated greenhouse and plant it out in our new raised aroid bed in the spring and hope for a monster. We will keep you updated about its growth. Half way up the picture to the right is Alocasia Odora which has become multi-stemmed and we hope will grow just as big.