Variegation Variations, Another Plant Nerd Mystery….

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When the first red Caladium leaf with white veins and a green and red border opened, I was puzzled.  It didn’t resemble any of the 14 different varieties of Caladiums I had ordered this spring.

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And so I assumed that maybe I’d received a serendipitous bonus; a rogue bulb of a different variety had made it into one of my bags.  I headed back to the Classic Caladiums website in search of the variety to learn its name.  I searched the site every way I knew how, and yet still came up empty handed.

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Caladium ‘Peppermint’

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By then another leaf had opened, and another, all from different bulbs.  I knew that it was indeed a mystery, but not a mistake.

When I heard from Lesley, in internet sales, on another matter,  I sent her a photo of my mystery Caladium.  She indicated that it might be C. ‘Peppermint,’ but promised to check with their CEO, Dr. Robert Hartman, and get back to me.

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I went back to the information on C. ‘Peppermint,‘ which I remembered as a mostly white leaf with a little green and touches of rosy pink.  This is a 2011 Caladium I’ve admired for a while, but ordered this year for the first time.  Sure enough, the photo resembled the mostly white leaves I remembered. (In re-checking the page tonight, at the very bottom of the webpage I see a photo of C. ‘Peppermint’ with the mostly rosy leaves I’ve observed.)

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All the while, our Caladiums kept growing and pumping out new leaves.  By the second week of June, I found a plant with both forms of the variegation on different leaves from the same tuber.  Now how odd is that?

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C. Carolyn Wharton in late May

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The older, traditional Caladium varieties are pretty dependable.  There will be some slight variations in the variegation on a plant like C. ‘Carolyn Wharton’ or C. ‘Miss Muffet,’ but not so much that you wouldn’t recognize them as clearly the same cultivar.  The leaves are more like each other and different from all other Caladium varieties.

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C. ‘Sweet Carolina’ in September 2016 shows a lot of variation in its variegation, too.

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But I’ve noticed a wider range of variations on leaves within a cultivar from Dr. Hartman’s new Caladium introductions.  I noticed it first on C. ‘Sweet Carolina.’ 

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C. ‘Sweet Carolina’

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Depending on the amount of light, moisture and nutrition a plant received, it may vary drastically in both basic leaf color, and also the pattern and amount of variegation.  I find this very entertaining, and I learned to really appreciate this decidedly odd and very large full-sun tolerant Caladium.

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Caladium ‘Highlighter’ June 2017

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When I grew out C. ‘Highlighter’ the first year, I didn’t recognize the plants for a few weeks because the color of the leaves was so variable.  I assumed that some were C. ‘White Delight.’  Some leaves were nearly white and creamy with few markings.  Others were richly colored with many strokes of pink.  But I could trace those variations to culture, because the plants were grown in different locations in the garden.

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Caladiums Chinook and Highlighter blend together well June 2018

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On the same plant, growing in the same conditions, the leaves were similar to one another.

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The first leaf to open on a newly sprouted C. “Desert Sunset’ in late May appears as the reverse image of the C. ‘Peppermint’ leaf….?

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And then came C. ‘Peppermint.’  I was doubly puzzled because the variegation on the mostly rosy leaves was like a mirror image of some of the early leaves on C. ‘Desert Sunset,’ when grown in deeper shade.  How could this be?

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I hope to have the opportunity to discuss this high weirdness with Dr. Hartman some time.  He is the guru of Caladium breeding, and I am positive he has some wonderful stories to tell about new Caladiums he is breeding and the odd variations that he has observed.

I am wondering why two leaves from the same tuber would end up so different from one another.

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Calaldium, ‘Desert Sunset’

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I’m also wondering why the earliest leaves were rosy with white veins, but later leaves emerged mostly white, with some green and rosy pink markings.  What is going on in the plant?   Do growing conditions tip the tuber to produce one sort of leaf over the other?

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C. ‘Peppermint’

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There are many, many mysteries in the plant kingdom; I am only beginning to scratch the surface of the wonders of horticulture.  As with a child, what part of a plant’s growth is nurture, and what part is wild and crazy nature taking a leap to manifest as something entirely new?

I am endlessly fascinated by the work of hybridizers who delight in introducing new colors and forms of beloved plants, and new strains that are stronger, healthier and more versatile than older varieties.  They work with nature and natural processes to give us the great gift of a new and useful plant.

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I love the new Caladiums that can take several hours of sun each day because there are more ways to use them in the garden.

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And I am thoroughly enjoying watching all of my Caldiums grow into their potential this summer.  An ‘outed’ plant nerd extraordinaire, I just can’t get enough of observing the wonderful variations of their lovely variegation.

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Caladium ‘Peppermint’ left, and C. ‘Berries and Burgundy’ right

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Woodland Gnome 2018

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C. ‘Desert Sunset’ is one of the most beautiful Caladiums we have grown… what color!

 

 

Celebrating Caladiums, and Remembering Their Growers

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We’ve spent much of the weekend glued to news reports from Florida, watching the progress of Hurricane Irma on radar on our tablets, and checking the National Hurricane Center’s updates.  We have weathered a hurricane or three here in coastal Virginia, and have a pretty good idea what our neighbors in Florida are going through.

Of course, they are facing off with the biggest, strongest hurricane to hit the United States in any of our memories.  And hurricane force winds and rain have swept across the entire state.

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Caladium ‘Desert Sunset,’ a 2016 introduction from Classic Caladiums. C. ‘Sweet Carolina’ is peeking out to the left.

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Our thoughts turn to friends and family in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.  We appreciate all that local governments have done to prepare, and marvel at the can-do spirit shown by even political rivals in the face of this catastrophe.  Let’s hope that more than a little of that pragmatic, cooperative spirit lingers once the flood waters clear and the clean-up and re-building commence.

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Calaldium ‘White Delight’ was introduced in 2015 by Classic Caladiums.

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Our Caladium suppliers all live and work in central Florida.  Classic Caladiums is based in Avon Park.  Another supplier is based just to the south in Lake Placid.  This part of Florida produces tons and tons of Caladium tubers each summer.

In fact, Florida produces a large percentage of the plugs and plants sold through nurseries on the East Coast.  I hope these hard working, largely family businesses, can weather a storm of this magnitude.  I certainly hope their crops and infrastructure can bounce back.  I would surely miss them.

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Caladium ‘Gingerland’

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I try to keep in mind the small businesses that feed my gardening addiction.  It is only through their dedication and continued hard work that such an amazing wealth of plants is brought to market each year.  These folks love the plants they raise and sell.  They work hard to educate the rest of us and to support the thousands of gardeners, like us, who turn to them each season.

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Caladium ‘Pink Beauty’

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And I believe that our best gesture of appreciation is to loyally support them with our repeat business.

I know it’s easy and cheap to turn to the big box stores for our plant purchases.  We can get inexpensive bulbs at Costco, bedding plants at Wal Mart, and shrubs at Lowes.  And I won’t pretend that I’ve not ‘been there, done that’ from time to time.

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And yet, every time I return to our local family run nursery, I’m reminded of the level of quality and customer service they bring to each transaction.  Many of the plants they sell are raised in the neighboring county, and come from greenhouse to nursery in an hour or less.  I am glad to support them and invest in their continued success!

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Caladium ‘Moonlight’ with hardy Begonia is in the pot, and C. ‘White Christmas’ grows beside it.

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We do our best to support small, local businesses.  When we find a special one, like Brent and Becky’s in neighboring Gloucester County, we deal with them as much as we can.  And we are richly rewarded with fine selection and top quality plants; and also with top quality horticulturalists and fine friendly people!

In fact, the Heaths source the Caladiums they offer each spring from Dr. Robert Hartman at Classic Caladiums in Avon Park.  Brent Heath piqued my interest in Classic Caladiums in the first place, by singing their praises for quality tubers!

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Caladium ‘Sweet Carolina,’ introduced by Classic Caladiums in 2016. 

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We come through trying times best when we pull together.  I know that many of us want to give when we see neighbors in trouble, and there are a plethora of charities wanting to channel our dollars into aid to those affected by catastrophe.

But let’s also keep small businesses in our minds and hearts during these challenging times.  Some purchases may cost us a bit more, but we have the peace of mind that our dollars directly support a family business and  a local economy.  They don’t wash into some vast, corporate pool of profit.

Doing business directly with growers and small nurseries is also a form of insurance.  We help insure their survival, and a continued long and happy relationship with them.

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Today, I’m thinking of our friends in dangerous places, and feeling appreciation for our garden.

I’m enjoying our beautiful Caladiums, even as I remember those who grew and supplied them to us.  I hope their lives return to normal soon, that their challenges are manageable, and that we will enjoy many more beautiful years of working together!

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Woodland Gnome 2017

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“We have to recognise that there cannot be relationships

unless there is commitment, unless there is loyalty,

unless there is love, patience,  persistence.”

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Cornel West

 

 

Sunday Dinner: Grace

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“Grace is a power that comes in and transforms

a moment into something better”

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Caroline Myss

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“…whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious,

if there is anything worthy of praise,

think about these things.

And peace will be with you.”

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Barbara Kingsolve

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“Grace is the celebration of life,

relentlessly hounding all the non-celebrants in the world.

It is a floating, cosmic bash shouting its way

through the streets of the universe,

flinging the sweetness of its cessations to every window,

pounding at every door in a hilarity

beyond all liking and happening,

until the prodigals come out at last and dance,

and the elder brothers

finally take their fingers out of their ears.”

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Robert Farrar Capon

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2017

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“How we fall into grace.

You can’t work or earn your way into it.

You just fall. It lies below, it lies beyond.

It comes to you,

unbidden.”

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Rick Bass

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Fabulous Friday: The Time That Is Given…

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“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.

“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all

who live to see such times.

But that is not for them to decide.

All we have to decide

is what to do with

the time that is given us.”
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J.R.R. Tolkien

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Hibiscus coccineus

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“They always say time changes things,

but you actually have to change them yourself.”

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Andy Warhol

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“Unfortunately, the clock is ticking,

the hours are going by.

The past increases,

the future recedes.

Possibilities decreasing,

regrets mounting.”

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Haruki Murakami

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And just what is ‘fabulous’ this Friday?  That we all have a bit of time still to use; 

And the energy and good sense to use it well. 

Stay safe, everyone, especially those living along the Gulf Coast. 

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“Happiness is Contagious!  Let’s infect one another.”

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Woodland Gnome 2017

 

 

Ordering Caladiums For Our Summer Garden

Caladium ‘Desert Sunset,’ introduced last season by Classic Caladiums.

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Again this year, I am organizing a large Caladium order for friends, neighbors  and family.  By combining our orders, we can buy large lots of 25-50 tubers of each variety which gives us a lower price per plant.  We also save on shipping costs.  I’ve selected a dozen different varieties to order this year.

Six varieties are new hybrids on offer from Classic Caladiums.  All of these were  developed by Dr. Robert Hartman, CEO of Classic Caladiums,  to withstand more direct sun and produce more leaves than older Caladium cultivars.  These six varieties have only been available commercially in the last few years.

I grew C. ‘Desert Sunset’ last summer, and was very happy with how it looked and how it performed.    One of the benefits of these new Caladiums is the introduction of some new patterns and even new colors into the world of Caladiums.

I am most interested in growing out  the new C. ‘Peppermint’ this year.

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Caladium ‘Sweet Carolina’ sports chartreuse leaves and bright rose pink spots.  C. ‘Miss Muffett’ was a  parent of this new hybrid.

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You might have seen my posts last summer about C. ‘Sweet Carolina.’  I’ve saved the tubers I grew last summer and hope they survived winter in our garage.  That cultivar isn’t on the list, although the Caladium proved to be a strong grower.

Our friends who grew the tubers I shared with them weren’t very enthusiastic about it; likely because of its truly unusual appearance.

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Caladium, ‘Cherry Tart’ is a fairly short variety, but produces lots of intense, red leaves.  These plants were vigorous and vibrant until frost.

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They were much happier with C. ‘Cherry Tart.’  A gorgeous deep red Caladium, I would recommend it to anyone.  You won’t find it on this list because I want to see the new 2017 red Caladiums C. ‘Fireworks’ and C. ‘Flare.’

Here are the varieties I plan to order for 2017:

New Caladium Hybrids from ClassicCaladiums.com 

(Please follow the links for photos)

White Delight   ( part sun 18”-24”)

White Star  ( full sun/part shade 12”-18”)

Peppermint  ( shade/part sun 12”-18”)

Desert Sunset ( sun/part shade 12”-18”

Fireworks  ( full sun/part shade 18”-24” )

Flare  ( full sun/part shade 12”-18” )

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C. Florida Fantasy appreciates a little afternoon shade, but performs well in morning sun.

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Older Caladium Hybrids

Florida Sweetheart ( sun/ part sun 12”-18”)

 Lance Wharton ( sun/ part sun 12”-18”)

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C. Florida Sweetheart

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 Florida Fantasy (shade/ part sun 12”-15”)

 Florida Moonlight ( shade/ part sun 18”-24”)

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Caladium ‘White Christmas’

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 Florida Roselight ( shade/ part sun 18”-24”)

 Miss Muffet ( shade/ part sun 12”-18”)

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Caladium ‘Miss Muffett”

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All six of these older varieties are beautiful, strong growers.  It is very hard for me to choose a favorite.  Thankfully, we enjoy them all in different parts of our garden. 

All four varieties with ‘Florida’ in the name were developed at the University of Florida. They are fairly new hybrids with pretty good sun tolerance, vigor, and good health.  C. ‘Miss Muffett’ is a gorgeous Caladium, and one of the parents of the improved C. ‘Sweet Carolina.’

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Caladium ‘Florida Moonlight’ really lights up a shady spot!

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Although I shared an email invitation last week with a few friends and neighbors to join this year’s Caladium order, I am posting the list of Caladiums, and a few photos,  again here.  Some folks had trouble opening the page I sent with photos of all six varieties.

If you live in the Williamsburg area, and would like to participate this year, then please contact me sometime this week by email.  We will get in touch with one another and you can join our order anytime between now and next weekend.

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Caladium ‘Lance Wharton’

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Caladiums prove a great plant for our hot Virginia summers.  They thrive in our heat and humidity!  Once they get going in May or early June, they keep giving and just grow better with each passing month until the weather cools in October.  Whether grown in a pot or in a bed, Caladiums have few problems and generally are left alone by deer and other wildlife.

These are a good choice for busy gardeners who don’t have time to fuss around with high maintenance plants.  Foliage plants have staying power in the garden.  These are some of the easiest and most interesting foliage plants we’ve found.

And now is the time to plan for the coming season.  Order yours now, while the selection is still good.

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 Caladiums love our summer weather!

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All photos by Woodland Gnome 2015- 2016

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Caladium ‘Desert Sunset’

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Wednesday Vignettes: Summer Love

Caladium ‘White Christmas’

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“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth

find reserves of strength

that will endure as long as life lasts.”

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Rachel Carson

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Caladium ‘White Queen’

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“Mere color, unspoiled by meaning,

and unallied with definite form,

can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways. ”

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Oscar Wilde

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Caladium ‘Desert Sunset’ hybridized by Dr. Robert Hartman of Classic Caladiums LLC.

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“Live in each season as it passes;

breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit,

and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.”

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Henry David Thoreau

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Caladium ‘Florida Moonlight’

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“Why do two colors, put one next to the other, sing?

Can one really explain this? no.

Just as one can never learn how to paint.”

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Pablo Picasso

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Caladium ‘Miss Muffet’

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“The scientist does not study nature

because it is useful to do so.

He studies it because he takes pleasure in it,

and he takes pleasure in it because it is beautiful.

If nature were not beautiful

it would not be worth knowing,

and life would not be worth living.

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Henri Poincaré

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“Nature does nothing uselessly.”

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Aristotle

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Assorted Caladiums.  On the right, C. ‘Lance Whorton’  blooms.

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“Let me, O let me bathe my soul in colours;

let me swallow the sunset and drink the rainbow.”

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Kahlil Gibran

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Caladium ‘Lance Whorton’

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“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”

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Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Caladium ‘Florida Sweetheart’

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“My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece”

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Claude Monet

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Caladium ‘Sweet Carolina’

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2014-2016

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Wednesday Vignette: Dreaming Trees

Ficus afghanistanica ‘Silver Lyre’ planted 2014

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“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world

would go to pieces,

I would still plant my apple tree.”

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Martin Luther

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Star Magnolia planted 2015

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“My own heroes are the dreamers,

those men and women who tried to make the world

a better place than when they found it,

whether in small ways or great ones.

Some succeeded, some failed,

most had mixed results…

but it is the effort that’s heroic, as I see it.

Win or lose,

I admire those who fight the good fight.”

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George R.R. Martin

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Crepe Myrtle planted 2015

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“Most of the important things in the world

have been accomplished

by people who have kept on trying

when there seemed to be no hope at all.”

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Dale Carnegie

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2016

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Do you plant trees?  Planting a tree, whether for yourself or someone else, is one of the most powerful gestures one can make to assure a happy and healthy future.  Here are just a few of the trees we’ve planted over the last five years.

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The Arbor  Day Foundation sponsors several worthwhile programs to ensure that more community trees are planted each year.  The one which has my interest right now is “Neighborwoods Month.” October is a great time of year for planting trees in our region.   

Perhaps you will consider planting a tree or two of your own between now and the end of October. 

Here is the child’s tree dedication prayer recited in Philadelphia at the planting of a new community tree: 

” We dedicate this tree to beauty, usefulness, and comfort. 

May our lives grow in beauty, usefulness, and comfort to others

even as these trees expand their leafy boughs. 

Let us strive to protect and care for them

and they may so be enjoyed by all people…”

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Wish Granted: Caladium ‘Desert Sunset’

Caladium ‘Desert Sunset’ developed by Dr. Robert Hartman of Classic Caladiums LLC.

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Caladium ‘Desert Sunset’ has to be one of the more beautiful and unusual Caladiums I’ve encountered.  Introduced to the trade in 2015, this elegant Caladium was developed by Dr. Robert Hartman, CEO of Classic Caladiums in Avon Park Florida.  Dr. Hartman is a graduate of the University of Florida, which has been active in hybridizing sun tolerant and disease resistant Caladiums for Florida growers over the last several decades.

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I learned about Dr. Hartman’s work and his recent Caladium introductions after Don Patterson, of Classic Caladiums, left a comment on my post “Summer Love:  Caladiums,” earlier this month.  When Mr. Patterson suggested he might send me some Caladiums to trial in Virginia, I immediately visited their site to see Classic Caladiums’ recent  introductions.

That is how I discovered this 2015 introduction, C. ‘Desert Sunset.’  I am intrigued both by this unusual color pattern, unique as far as I’m aware in Caladiums, but also the beautiful leaf form.  When I didn’t hear back from Mr. Patterson, I looked into ordering a few of the tubers to enjoy for the rest of this season.  The smallest package, with postage, runs around $40.  Needless to say, I was still considering whether to make the investment this year or wait to order next spring.

But to my utter delight, I spotted the now familiar leaf of C. ‘Desert Sunset’ at our local Lowes store last week!  Monrovia is offering the cultivar this year!

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I was utterly amazed to find these beautiful plants already available at our local ‘big box’ nursery, and bought a few pots on the spot.  That gave me four plants for less than half of what I would have invested in 10 tubers, and the plants are already in full leaf; no waiting for them to sprout.

I’ve potted all of the plants together in an 18′ plastic dish and set them in partial sun under the shade of a Crepe Myrtle, but near enough to the driveway that this area remains hot.  I’ve also started a few Dichondra cuttings as ground cover below the Caladiums.  These photos were taken within the first 48 hours of potting up, but on a few different occasions to show the leaves in differing light.

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These leaves are variable depending on the relative intensity of the light.  They absolutely sparkle.  And, the leaves change as they grow and mature.  There is a wide variation of shading between different leaves on the same plant.  This cultivar is definitely a cut above the traditional Caladiums available since the 1940s and 1950s.

Natives of Mexico, Central and South America; Caladiums were first collected in the late 18th Century and have been grown commercially and hybridized in this country since around 1910. Although popular in Europe, Caladiums were introduced to the American public in 1893 at the Chicago World’s Fair.

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C. ‘White Queen’ and other varieties we are already growing back lit, shortly before sunset, earlier this week.

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In the early years of the 20th century, Henry Nehrling and Theodore Mead began breeding Caladiums in Florida. They had nearly 2000 different hybrids, a few of which are still available commercially today.  But Caladium breeding ended for a while when their efforts stopped, until Frank Joyner (C. ‘Postman Joyner’ is named for him) began actively breeding new cultivars at his home in the 1950s.

The University of Florida program began in 1976 and remains the only institutional Caladium breeding program in the world today.  Dr. Hartman and his company, Classic Caladiums, continue the tradition of improving older Caladium varieties and developing improved ones.  Cultivars with “Florida” in their name were developed by the University of Florida and most are quite tolerant  of at least partial sun.  These cultivars are sought out for superior growth and leaf color, tolerance to cold and productivity.

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Caladium ‘Florida Moonlight’ is an older white variety which prefers partial to full shade.  This is among the whitest and most luminescent Caladiums available.

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You will find a few other absolutely unique and interesting Caladiums offered through Classic Caladiums such as C. ‘Mt. Everest,’ a lance leafed white variety which will tolerate full sun; C. ‘Peppermint;’ and the huge C. ‘Sweet Carolina,’ which reaches 36″ or more and can take full sun.

Any Caladium is beautiful and infinitely useful in the garden.  There are varieties I’ve loved and planted for years, like C. ‘White Queen’ and C. ‘Miss Muffet.’  Now that I’ve learned about these wonderful new introductions my spring choices will be made even more difficult.  So little space, so many beautiful plants….

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C. ‘Desert Sunset’ in different light shows some leaves to be almost white.

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But I will always find space for beauties like C. ‘Desert Sunset.’  This takes the color palette off on a marvelous tangent towards more salmon and copper.  I am looking forward to experimenting with interesting pairings and uses for this special Caladium as it grows through the rest of the season.

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Woodland Gnome 2016

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