Caladium bicolor var. rubicundum

This dusty green plant with splotches of bright lavender on its leaves makes this one look out of this world.

I will not forget the first time I saw this plant. I was 17 years old and was visiting Selby Botanical Gardens in Florida. Inside the tropical greenhouse were all sorts of exotic aroids and plants from all over the world. I walked around a corner and growing in a stream was one of the most beautiful aroids I have ever seen. I first thought it was a Colocasia due to it's huge size. The plant was 6 feet tall with 2 foot leaves each leaf was a dark green with purple veins and bright pink to white spots. I was dying to get a piece of this plant but none were available at the gardens. I later visited my good friend Dewey Fisk who had a very large collection of aroids. He was well known for having odd rare stuff and in his Caladium collection was the plant I had seen at the garden. He called it Caladium Bi-color. Dewey told me it was collected years ago in the center of a small village in South America were it was grown in the center of the village in a landscape display. The collector who was visiting the village could not help himself and took a piece of the plant and brought it back to the states. It is not a difficult plant to grow but getting it to the size I originally saw it is a feat few have accomplished. It can grow much like any other Caladium getting 1 to 3 feet but it seems to get very large if grown with wet feet in a very warm and humid situation. Foliage: Dark green leaves with purple veins and pink spots Flowers: Hooded flowers Height: 3 to 7 feet tall