I’ve been taking Miguel, my 12-year-old Havanese, for 3,500-step walks around the neighborhood lately (and telling myself he’s the only one who can’t handle longer strolls). And now that the weather is cooling, I’m noticing that some of the plants we encounter along the way look nothing like their mid-summer selves. Sure, most and dying down, and trees and deciduous shrubs are here in suburban New York.
But that’s not what I mean. I’m talking about the flowering of plants that are typically valued mostly, if not solely, . Some plants save their flowers until late in the season A stunning coleus, no doubt planted for its chartreuse-edged maroon leaves, is now punctuated by gangly 2 1/2-foot-tall spikes of tiny purple blooms.
They’re attention-grabbing, to be sure, but perhaps not in the best way. And they might not be what their owner signed up for, as the blooming stage of the plant is not what’s depicted in catalogs or on plant tags at the nursery. Caladiums, planted for their large, colorful, often heart-shaped leaves, also bloom, their white or pink-tinged flowers seemingly a cross between a calla lily’s and a flamingo flower’s.
This is not a coincidence, as all three belong to the Araceae family. The latter two are grown for their flowers, but many gardeners remove caladium blossoms to direct more of the plant’s energy into leaf and corm production. Another caladium cousin, Alocasia, aka elephant ears, produces similar blooms, although they are small.
