Colocasia Jack's Giant

When you want sheer jungle scale, this is the one. Colocasia 'Jack's Giant' is the largest elephant ear we grow, throwing up enormous, lush green heart-shaped leaves that can reach over a metre long on a plant that climbs to head height and beyond in a good season. One specimen is a whole tropical canopy in itself.

Where the dark and variegated sorts trade on colour, Jack's Giant trades on pure size and vigour. It grows fast and easily given what it wants, building into a towering, architectural presence that turns an ordinary border into somewhere altogether more exotic. Plant it at the back of a scheme or as a standalone specimen and let it do what it does best — get big.

Where to grow it

Happy in full sun or part shade, in rich, reliably moist soil — it's genuinely at home in boggy ground and at the water's edge, and the more moisture and food it gets, the bigger it grows. Give it a sheltered spot, as those huge leaves catch the wind, and plenty of room to reach its full size.

Supplied as an established young plant in a 9cm pot, grown here in Norfolk and ready to romp away once the warmth arrives.

Colocasia are grown for those spectacular leaves, and a giant like this is hungry for all three of the things they love: warmth, moisture and food. Once nights are reliably warm, stand it in full sun or light shade, keep the compost wet at all times — it is happy standing in water — and feed generously and often through summer. The more you give, the bigger it gets.

Shelter it from strong wind, which catches those huge leaves, and give it plenty of room to reach its full size.

Overwintering

This is a tender plant and will not come through a UK winter outdoors. As the first frosts approach the leaves will tire and die back — that is your cue. Either move the whole pot into a frost-free greenhouse, porch or conservatory and keep it barely moist until spring, or lift the tuber, dry it off and store it somewhere cool and frost-free. A large tuber stores well and comes back bigger each year. Start it back into growth with warmth and water from April.

Plant it with bananas, cannas, tree ferns and tall grasses for a towering jungle scheme, or set it at a pond margin where its scale gives the whole planting its ceiling.