Bartlett Arboretum Pictures

Unnamed Coleus.

Since I was out late last night here are a few pictures from my recent trip to the Bartlett Arboretum in Stamford, Connecticut.

Classic Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae) blooming the greenhouse.

I am not sure what this one is but it is a colorful plant that I have seen a couple of different times this year, any ideas?

Blue Ginger (Dichorisandra thyrsiflora)

Blue Ginger
Dichorisandra thyrsiflora
(dy-kor-ih-SAN-druh) (thur-SEE-flor-uh)
Commelinaceae (ko-mel-ih-NAY-see-ay)
Synonyms: Brazilian Ginger

This is another tropical plant I saw at the Bartlett Arboretum in Stamford, Connecticut. The color of the flower was extremely striking. I am not sure what they are going to do with all the tropical plants they had outside. I brought the ones at Estate inside last week, as there is always the threat of frost at this time. We had one frost warning already a couple of weeks ago. Since this is a USDA Zone 9 (-6.6 °C/20 °F) plant there is no way it is going to make it outside. I guess they know what to do and like pushing it to the last moment.

I don’t remember looking at the plant or foliage, just the flowers. It grows as a clump forming rhizomatous perennial to a height of 8 feet. It is a native to Central and South America and not a true Ginger. It is more closely related to another member of the Commelinaceae (Spiderwort) family the Wandering Jew.


Dichorisandra is easy to propagate from stem cuttings and it is also easy to cultivate in the house.

Super Size Elephant Ear

Flowers of the Super Sized Elephant Ear Colocasia gigantea 'Thailand Giant Strain'

Super Size Elephant Ear
Colocasia gigantea 'Thailand Giant Strain'
(kol-oh-KAY-see-uh) (jy-GAN-tee-uh)
Araceae (a-RAY-see-ay)
Synonyms: Giant Taro

On Friday I had a few minutes in between appointments in Pound Ridge, New York so I decided to zip over the Connecticut State Line into Stamford and the Bartlett Arboretum. It is a nice little garden with a good collection of things. Sometimes when I go to gardens that I have been to many times I see something that really blows my mind and this plant was one of them. Too bad I didn’t get a picture of the whole plant but I only had the 60mm lens and I really couldn’t line up a good shot. This the second picture in a couple of weeks to feature use of the flash. Two out of about 420 posts, it could be a trend. Here is a link to Plant Delights Nursery’s catalog with an amazing picture and some more information on the plant:
click here

Foliage detail of Super Size Elephant Ears showing part of the 4 to 5 foot leaves.


The leaves on the specimen I saw were not as big as the picture but still very impressive. I don’t think growing regular Elephant Ears is going to cut it anymore! At first I didn’t see the flowers (which are fragrant) underneath the huge leaves but when I moved one of them there they were and quite pretty. The flowers had a really bright white spathe with a unique geometric pattern on the spadix. Next time I will have to crawl underneath and smell them. Not enough people stop to smell the spadix :lol: All parts of the Taro or Elephant Ear are considered poisonous and need to be cooked to break down the calcium oxalate crystals in the leaves, stem and corm. I learned a new botanical term when I looked this plant up, sagittate. Which means the leaves are arrowhead-shaped.

Taro is thought to be one of the earliest cultivated plants and is still an important food source in the Pacific Rim and Hawaii. Here is a link to the Wikipedia article about Taro:

click here