General Culture: Click for monthly care information.
Best grown in fertile, humusy, organically rich, medium to wet soils in full sun to part shade. Full sun generally brings out the best leaf color for this cultivar. However, in the hot summers of the St. Louis area, plants appear to do best in part shade, particularly with some light afternoon shade. When growing plants in garden soils, provide regular moisture, especially during dry summer periods, and do not allow soils to dry out. Plants may also be grown as pond marginals in up to 6" of standing water. Plants produce prodigious amounts of growth and appreciate regular fertilization during the growing season. Tubers may be left in the ground year-round in USDA Zones 8-10. In St. Louis, however, tubers should be planted in the ground in mid-spring (after April 20), dug up in fall after first frost and then overwintered in a cool dry place (set in dry peat or wood shavings) where temperatures do not dip below 45 degrees F, in somewhat the same manner as done for cannas.
Noteworthy Characteristics:
'Black Magic' is an elephant's ear cultivar which features unusual purplish-black leaves. It is a tuberous, stemless, frost-tender perennial of the arum family (see also calla lily and jack-in-the-pulpit) which typically grows 3-6' tall and as wide. It is primarily a foliage plant with huge, heart-shaped, conspicuously-veined, downward-pointing, peltate leaves (to 2' long) on long petioles. As the common name suggests, each leaf purportedly resembles an elephant's ear. Calla lily-like flowers with yellowish-white spathes and spadixes are usually hidden by the foliage, but flowers are infrequently produced. Plants in the genus Colocasia are also commonly called taro (Colocasia esculenta is commercially grown as a food crop in Hawaii. Poi is made from the plant tubers).
Problems:
No serious insect or disease problems.
Uses:
Lends a large tropical look to gardens, water margins and large containers. Excellent as a specimen or in groups.
© Missouri Botanical
Garden, 2001-2009
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