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How to Grow Elephant Ears: The Complete Plant Guide

Botanical Name
Colocasia spp.
Plant Type
Foliage Plant
Sun Exposure
Part Sun
Soil pH
Neutral to Slightly Alkaline
Hardiness Zone
7
8
9
10
11

Planting, Growing, and Caring for Elephant Ear Plants

Catherine Boeckmann
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The dramatic elephant ears plant is a large, tropical foliage plant with magnificent, heart-shaped or arrow-shaped leaves. In colder regions, they need to be dug up and stored before winter arrives. Here’s how to grow and care for elephant ears in your garden.

About Elephant Ear Plants

Few plants rival elephant ears in making a big impression. With their huge, heart-shaped leaves in dramatic colors, elephant ears are awesome, elegant, and unforgettable. Elephant ear belongs to the genus Colocasia, which are tuberous, frost-tender perennials from tropical Asia. You may be familiar with one species, Colocasia esculenta, by its other name: taro. Taro is an edible root vegetable enjoyed in much of tropical Africa and Asia.

These plants are accustomed to wet areas with the filtered sun of a tropical forest. Therefore, they prefer moist soils and also partial shade. They are good for wet areas along creeks, rain gardens, or low-lying areas.

If you grow elephant ears in a garden bed, that’s perfectly fine as long as they receive regular moisture and don’t dry out (especially in hot summers)!  Being native to tropical environments, these plants thrive in warm, humid conditions and wet environments (Elephant ears look great in a container with other summer bulbs and/or annuals.

In USDA Hardiness Zones 7 to 11, elephant ears can be left outside year-round and are treated as perennials. In colder climates, they are typically treated as annuals and discarded at the end of the growing season. However, you could also dig up the tubers after the first fall frost, store them indoors, and replant them next year after the last spring frost. 

Elephant ear leaves can reach lengths of 3 feet on top of 3- to 7-foot stems. The leaves usually have prominent veins, and their colors range from lime green to almost black. 

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Planting

How to Plant Elephant Ears

  • Find a spot with medium to wet soil in part shade or filtered sun. Elephant ear plants will struggle in full sun and dry soil.
  • Pick a location protected from strong winds. The large leaves can be damaged by heavy gusts.
  • Add aged manure or compost to the soil before planting.
  • Dig a hole 2 to 4 times larger than the tuber.
  • After the threat of frost has passed in the spring, plant the tuber so it sits 1 to 2 inches below the soil. 
  • Elephant ears grow best when they’re planted close to the surface.
  • The plant can also be grown in a pond with up to 6” of standing water.

Planting Elephant Ears in Pots

“Elephant ears are also excellent additions for containers. Be sure to choose a heavy container that is at least 18 inches wide and deep or larger,” explains Barbara H. Smith, Horticulture Associate - Agent, HGIC, Clemson University.

lant the corm 4 to 6 inches deep (the bigger the corm, the deeper) in a large container filled with potting mix amended with compost. Set outdoors when temperatures are consistently at least 60°F. If you are adding other plants to the container, consider the exposure that these will need and get, given the size of the elephant ear leaves. Water regularly and heavily, 2 to 3 inches per week or more, especially for container plants in their preferred weather conditions.

New leaves will appear throughout the growing season. Use a sharp blade to remove dying ones just above the stem base.

Growing

How to Care for Elephant Ears

  • Don’t let the soil dry out during the active growing season.
  • Water the plants in the morning and water from below to keep water off the leaves.
  • Apply a slow-release fertilizer once a month.
  • Cut off faded or browning leaves as needed. Make the cut as close to the tuber as possible.
  • Tubers may be left in the ground year-round in Zones 7 to 11. Add a layer of mulch around the plants in late fall to protect them from frost.
  • In cooler regions, tubers should be planted in the ground in mid-spring and dug up in fall after the first frost. 
    • Cut back foliage and allow the tubers to dry for a few days. 
    • Overwinter in an open container (paper bags work well) with peat moss or dry potting soil in a cool dry location (above 45°F).
  • The plant may be divided in winter or early spring.

elephant ears and ferns

Overwintering Elephant Ears

Elephant ears are tender perennials; temperatures below 68°F can be injurious. To overwinter, remove the foliage, dig up the corm, set it aside to dry, and pack it in dry wood shavings or peat. (Break off any small “offsets”— new plants produced by a mother plant complete with their own roots—on the corm; these can be planted in spring as new plants.) Place in a cool, dry area where the temperature does not fall below 45°F. Alternatively, move the plant in its container indoors to a warm, bright location. Remove all but the two top leaves, reduce watering, and cease fertilizing until spring.

Varieties
  • ‘Jack’s Giant’ has rich blue-green leaves with chartreuse edges. It grows up to 7 feet tall.
  • ‘Diamond Head’ has 2 ½-feet long rippled, heart-shaped, purple to black leaves.
  • ‘Pink China’ has green leaves on pinkish stems. It is one of the hardiest elephant ears and may survive in Zone 5 to 6.
  • ‘Fontanesii’ is a tall hybrid with dark green leaves on purple stems. 
  • ‘Elena’ has chartreuse leaves with cream-colored petioles that change to purple where they join the leaf to the stalk.
  • ‘Hilo Beauty’: irregular cream or yellow flecks on dark green leaves; 2 to 3 feet tall
  • ‘Low Rider’: compact (dwarf) specimen; heart- or arrowhead-shape, rippled foliage; 1 to 2 feet tall
  • ‘Stingray’: distinct tail at the end of inward-curving green leaf; 3 to 6 feet tall
  • ‘Black Magic’: first black cultivar; dusty purple-black leaves (with green undertones in shady conditions) on dark petioles; leaves fold upward; reaches 3 to 6 feet tall and wide
  • ‘Coffee Cups’: vigorous hybrid; smaller leaves on very tall, dark petioles with leaves folded upward to form cuplike shapes, which collect and release rainwater; spreads 21/2 to 4 feet
  •  ‘Illustris,’ aka Imperial Taro: black-purple leaves patterned with bright green veins; 3 to 5 feet tall
  • ‘Nancy’s Revenge’: as the season progresses, leaves change from all green to having centers of butter yellow at the onset of flowering, up to 8 feet tall
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Pests/Diseases

Aphids, whiteflies, and spider mites may become a problem.

Also, look out for corm and root rots, bacterial blight, and mosaic viruses. 

Wit and Wisdom

  • You can grow the upright elephant ears (Alocasia) indoors as houseplants in bright, indirect light. Grow in a 5-gallon container with rich, moist soil.
  • Elephant ear is grown as a food crop in much of the tropical world and the traditional Polynesian dish poi is made from the tubers. However, note that all parts of the plant are poisonous, unless it is cooked first!
  • While most plants known as “elephant ears” are members of the genera Alocasia and Colocasia, members of other genera in the family Araceae also are sometimes commonly called by the same designation because of their similarly large, arrowhead- or heart-shape leaves. These include but are not limited to Caladium bicolor, aka C. x hortulanum; Philodendron domesticum, aka P. hastatum of gardens; Xanthosoma lindenii, aka C. lindenii, P. lindenii; and X. violaceum.
Ornamental Gardening
About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it’s not surprising that she and The Old Farmer’s Almanac found each other. She leads digital content for the Almanac website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana. Read More from Catherine Boeckmann
 

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Comments

Mike (not verified)

10 months 2 weeks ago

Another caution is Elephant Ear is poisonous for dogs. Our puppy love to nibble on grass and fortunately never eat it. I learned this just recently whikr at the Veterinary clinic for vaccines and took note of a poster on the wall showing plants that are poisonous for dogs, and suddenly recognized the Elephant Ear.

An article on dog safe plants or ones to avoid would be very interesting, especially with rise in dog ownership.

Thanks to those who commented and I'd love to read more reactions.

Mike

Hookman (not verified)

3 years 11 months ago

Perhaps you could share some directions and/or recipes to turn elephant ears (Taro) into something edible (poi).

john ralph (not verified)

2 years 5 months ago

The root of elephant ear is very toxic to humans. The plant is categorized as an invasive species in the San Marcos River in Texas. It is unconscionable imprudent to foster this aggressive plant anywhere in North America. You should delete any reference to this plant in a favorable format.

Actually, it's only toxic if it's consumed without being cooked. It's "taro", or "malanga". You can peel, boil, mash with butter and salt, and eat it perfectly fine. It's actually great for your stomach if it's upset (such as vomitting/diarrhea) and it's filling! Go to your local grocery store/farmer's market and try it. :)

The leaves are also used in a fantastic Gujarati dish, patra. They consider the leaves good for the gut because of their bitter compounds.

Uh no. They are fabulous plants and nowhere near invasive. I am in North Texas