{"id":7955,"date":"2016-04-24T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2016-04-24T16:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=7955"},"modified":"2015-10-05T19:36:00","modified_gmt":"2015-10-05T23:36:00","slug":"mojito-elephant-ear-is-tropical-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2016\/04\/24\/mojito-elephant-ear-is-tropical-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Mojito’ Elephant Ear Is A Tropical Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Colocasia<\/a>

Colocasia esculenta ‘Mojito’ at Biltmore Estates, Asheville, NC<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Colorful<\/a>

Colorful Foliage of ‘Mojito’<\/p><\/div>\n

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‘Mojito’ elephant ear (Colocasia esculenta<\/em>), aka taro plant, has become a new favorite in the Conlon garden where it is\u00a0not dependably\u00a0winter hardy (Zone 6b). According to Tony Avent at Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, NC,\u00a0tubers are dependably winter hardy in zones\u00a07b -10. ‘Mojito’ (pronounced “Mo-he-toe”) is a sport of Colocasia ‘Burgundy Stem’ x ‘Black Marble’.\u00a0Its fancy leaves are medium green splashed with dark purple flecks. \u2018Mojito\u2019 is a thick-leaved, strong stemmed plant that stands up in summer downpours.<\/p>\n

Elephant ears are easy to grow. Your garden or container soil (media)\u00a0should be well-drained, mildly acidic,\u00a0organically rich. Soil pH should range between 5.6\u00a0and 7.0. Locate in direct or partial sunlight\u00a0and keep soil moderately moist. Keep garden plants adequately mulched and away from prevailing winds.<\/p>\n

Elephant ears are\u00a0constant feeders and love a\u00a0steady diet\u00a0of water plus water-soluble fertilizer such as Miracle-Gro\u00ae, Jack\u2019s Classic\u00ae, or Peters\u00ae every 2-3 weeks from planting time (mid-May here in zone 6b) to late August at\u00a0the one-half strength rate. By late summer expect Mojito to reach 2-3 feet high and wide, less so on drier sites.<\/p>\n

Disease and pest problems are rare if plant(s) are properly sited and cared for. Potential crown or stem rot problems are best avoided by growing in a well-drained soil (media) and by not overwatering.<\/p>\n

In areas with moderate\u00a0winters (zone 7) elephant ears\u00a0should be heavily mulched\u00a0during winter to protect the central tuber which will likely perish in temps in the lower teens. Spread 2-3 inches of loose non-packing\u00a0mulch such as straw or oak leaves.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0zones 5 and 6\u00a0container plants or tubers should be dug up, bagged,\u00a0and stored in a cool (unheated) attached home garage where winter temps\u00a0should not drop below 40 \u00baF. Remove all leaves and stems and\u00a0hold in a semi-dormant state. At the start of spring, repot and gradually reintroduce\u00a0elephant ears and other sensitive semi-tropicals to\u00a0rising\u00a0outdoor temperatures.<\/p>\n

Where to purchase<\/span>:\u00a0independent garden centers and mail-order nurseries like Plant Delights Nursery, Raleigh, NC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0           ‘Mojito’ elephant ear (Colocasia esculenta), aka taro plant, has become a new favorite in the Conlon garden where it is\u00a0not dependably\u00a0winter hardy (Zone 6b). According to Tony Avent at Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, NC,\u00a0tubers are dependably winter hardy in zones\u00a07b -10. ‘Mojito’ (pronounced “Mo-he-toe”) is a sport of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,759,605,710,674,665,877,853,551,843,812,1210,630,646,756,113,1222,455,642],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7955"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7955"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8056,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7955\/revisions\/8056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}