I mentioned earlier how much I love caladiums, well here are just a few varieties to wet your palette. These are all from Classic Caladiums and were planted as bulbs, well tubers, nevermind that is an different post all together.
Fancy Leaf vs. Lance Leaf caladiums
Notice that some of these are the larger fancy leaf varieties and others are the smaller lance leaf. Not sure the difference? Most lance leaf varieties are smaller in size but have more leaves per bulb. Most of the sun tolerant caladiums tend to be of the lance leaf school.
The big fancy leaves are the older, more vintage style of caladiums. They have tremendous variation in color and while the leaves are huge, they are often fewer than the lance leaf and better suited to shady areas. Can’t decide? Don’t! The two are perfect in combination. Try using the large fancy leaf caladiums in back with the shorter lance leaf in front. The smaller caladiums do a great job of hiding the taller caladiums as they start to get a little leggy toward the end of the season.
Caladiums for Sun
If you are looking to plant your caladiums in a sunny location then it would be best to plant the thicker lance leaf varieties. These caladiums for sun will be better able to take bright light without getting browned out, dry spots from sunburn. Luckily, most caladium growers have made it very easy to pick these out and you can simply look for the little sun icon on the package to know they will do well.
If you look at the caladiums pictured below, ‘Celebration’ and ‘Raspberry Moon’ are both fancy leaf while the ‘Peppermint’ and ‘Highlighter’ would be lance leaf types. See the difference?