Caladium Heart to Heart Pw Clowning Around 3G

Heart to Heart^® 'Clowning Around'

Shade Caladium

Caladium hortulanum

 

Features

'Clowning Around' is a Fancy leaf Caladium, that grows well in part shade to shade conditions. is a fancy-leaf variety with clear bright rose pink veins cream orange areas surrounding and between veins with olive green often raised areas on the edge giving the plant an interesting textured appearance similar to one of its parents Twist and Shout^®.  This is a new color pattern and combination for caladiums! Caladiums are also generally considered to be houseplants where they prefer bright light or a sunny window. 

Caladiums can be an irritant if ingested. The ASPCA has more information on which plants may be harmful.

Award Winner

Adaptable As Houseplant

Foliage Interest

Heat Tolerant

Deadheading Not Necessary

Resists: 

Deer

Characteristics

Plant Type: 

 Annual

Height Category: 

 Medium

Garden Height: 

 15 - 20 Inches

Spacing: 

 10 - 14 Inches

Spread: 

 10 - 14 Inches

Foliage Colors: 

 Green

 Orange

 Pink

Foliage Shade: 

 Pink, Cream Orange and Green

Habit: 

 Upright

Container Role: 

 Thriller

Plant Needs

Light Requirement: 

 Part Shade to Shade

The optimum amount of sun or shade each plant needs to thrive: Full Sun (6+ hours), Part Sun (4-6 hours), Full Shade (up to 4 hours).

Maintenance Category: 

 Easy

Bloom Time: 

 Grown for Foliage

Hardiness Zones: 

 10a, 10b, 11a, 11b

Water Category: 

 Average

Uses: 

 Border Plant

 Container

 Landscape

 Mass Planting

Uses Notes: 

Landscapes and containers.

Maintenance Notes: 

Caladiums can be an irritant if ingested. The ASPCA has more information on which plants may be harmful.

Indoors:

Caladiums can be a very nice windowsill or sunroom plant and for much of the United States and certainly in Canada this might be the best use for the Caladiums. Since they are tropical they need to have warmth and humidity, try to always keep the temperatures above 65 F for best growth and leaf size, and a pebble tray or frequent misting can help to keep humidity up around your plants. If you live in a northern climate, be careful not to plant too early in spring as temperatures below 50F will chill and stunt plants, normal indoor temperatures should be fine and winter heaters usually dry things out a bit too much. So this can be a good guide for when to grow these Caladiums, when you turn the heater off for the summer.

Plant tubers pointed end facing upwards, so the tuber is about 2” below the soil level, the roots form on the top of the tuber , so you need to plant them deep enough that roots have room to grow, but not too deep because it delays new leaves and weakens the plant. If your plants are already growing in pots when you purchase them, plant them about ½” deeper when you transplant them to make sure the tubers have room to keep growing.

Caladiums do not need a lot of fertilizer, about ¼ of what most folks feed their flowering annuals, and too much fertilizer can burn the leaves especially the white portions of the leaf. So just fertilize with ¼ the strength what you normally do for your flowers and apply weekly or every other week.

Keep plants in a sunny to partly sunny location and avoid burning hot southern exposures especially at higher altitudes.

Keep soil in your pots moist at all times, wilting will cause leaves to yellow and drop, so just check to make they do not dry out!

Outdoors:

Since Caladiums prefer heat and humidity and do not tolerate cold, soggy soils, for most gardeners who live in the north will have best results in containers, as the soil in pots or planters warms up faster and has better drainage so plants will not become soggy. Remember for best growth always keep the temperatures above 65 F.

A ¼ - ½ strength fertilizing every week or every other week is fine throughout the season, too strong a fertilizer can burn leaves, and since the leaves last all season you want to keep them looking fresh. Caladiums like to be moist at all times so avoid allowing them to dry out as it also causes leaves to yellow and drop.

Where the Caladiums will do best depends a lot on your location within the US, since sunlight intensity varies depending on where you live here’s a quick reference to help guide to help you succeed.

Region	When to Plant	Sun or Shade	Containers or in the garden
NW & NE United States & Canada	Early summer	Full sun - light shade.	Caladiums do best in containers in this part of the country and usually need to be in a protected warm location for best results. Like a sunroom or warm patio setting. If growing outdoors select the warmest protected locations in the garden.
SW United States	Spring	shade to light shade only	Containers may be easiest but a shady, cool garden spot can also be lovely. Watch your watering to keep the plants from drying out.
Midwest	Late Spring	Light shade	Containers are likely best, but a late spring planting into a protected shade flower bed will also be fine.
SE United States	Spring	Shade to sun	Both containers and garden plantings work fine, in the deep south Caladiums may even come back the following year if kept dry over the winter.

Heart to Heart^® 'Clowning Around' Caladium hortulanum USPP 32,252