Photo of the Day: Elephant Ears, Berkshire Botanical Garden, Stockbridge, MA

I have already spotlighted the marvelous Berkshire Botanical Garden in prior posts on the single-seed juniper and the pineapple lily. But another plant I saw and photographed up there in Stockbridge, MA, is also worth mentioning.

One look at this plant and you’ll see why few know it by its formal scientific names, alocasia and colocasia, but instead as elephant ears. Granted, I focused hard on the leaves in taking this shot, but it didn’t take much for them to fill up the frame of the camera. They are enormous—up to two feet across. In contrast to alocasia, this variety, colocasia, tends to spread out more. 

Their foliage can be stunning, but it might have been most appropriate that I viewed it, along with the rest of the garden, in late August, because—even though their size would make them quintessential solo performers in any garden—they look great with other summer bulbs and annuals.