4 simple, do-it-yourself ways to nurture Caladium bulbs

Caladiums are a special treat to any garden or summer flower bed. As tropical foliage plants, they accentuate your growing zone’s beauty with a riot of colors. They grow well in shaded areas, containers, hanging baskets, borders, flower beds and even indoors.

Caladiums invigorate any landscape with their bright hues of red, pink, green and white. They also enhance the look of other plants when planted in the right places. Caladiums can be grown by anyone in any climate during summer. Ideal time for planting caladium bulbs is late Spring. However, caladiums cannot stand winters and hence need to be removed during Fall if you plan to re-plant the same bulbs the next season. Basically, the bloom time of caladiums is between frost to frost, but they peak in summer.

Caladiums are simple to grow and can be handled even by inexperienced or novice gardeners. Below are some 4 simple, do it yourself ways to plant, grow and take care of your Caladium bulbs.

1. Choose bulbs with care. Choice of bulbs is the first step. You need to choose your Caladium bulbs with care, depending on your weather conditions, desire for colorful leaves and also depending on where you plan to plant your bulbs. Take into account the supposed height, the sun tolerance and color of leaves of the caladium bulbs before you pick one. You can buy the bulbs in early Spring and plant them in late Spring or at the start of summer. You can even try planting them in indoor containers before you take to planting in the soil. Buying a bulb is easy – you can get it in your local nursery or order from an online store.

2. Check soil’s warmth. Soil should be warm enough for planting caladiums. Noel Durrant, owner of Caladium World says, “The most important factor when planting caladiums is temperature. Ideally the night temperature should be 68 degrees or warmer on a consistent basis before planting caladiums.” She opines that caladiums will rot if they are planted when nights are cool in spite of high day time temperatures. As the soil should be moist and not wet, choosing the right season to plant your caladiums is important.

3. Water your caladiums at the right time. Of course, caladiums should be kept moist all the time, but that does not mean they should be kept wet and soggy. Check how cool your nights are and how is the moisture of the soil during night time. Excessive wetness can lead to rotting of caladium bulbs or can slow down the process of germination. However, when the plant breaks open the ground, you will know when to water it – water it only when its leaves droop. Do check the amount sunlight the plant receives and water accordingly.

4. Start indoors if you’re an amateur. If you are new to caladiums, start indoors. Find containers and plant your bulbs in them. Start with indoors first. Once the night temperatures become perfect, take them out and keep them in the place you have chosen. Keeping caladiums in containers can be helpful as you can shift the containers from place to place, depending on the sunlight your bulbs receive. Also, container-plantation would avoid rotting of the bulbs in case of any mishaps.