’Fairytale Princess’ and ’Red Hot’: Red Lance-leaved Caladium Cultivars

Figure 1.  ‘Fairytale Princess’ plant (about 6 weeks old) forced from four No.1 (1½ to 2½ inches in diameter) tubers in an 8-inch container (2011). Credit: Gail Bowman (UF/IFAS/GCREC).Caladiums are valued in landscapes and containers for their colorful and variable-shaped leaves. Two types of caladium cultivars exist in commercial production: fancy- and lance-leaved. ‘Florida Sweetheart’ is the most popular lance-leaved commercial cultivar of all colors. It produces wide lance leaves with a rosy color and relatively large tubers. ‘Florida Red Ruffles’ is the most popular red, lance-leaved commercial cultivar among caladium growers, greenhouse growers, and nurseries. It has excellent sunburn tolerance. Both cultivars were introduced by the University of Florida (UF) caladium breeding program. This 9-page fact sheet was written by Zhanao Deng, and published by the UF Department of Environmental Horticulture, August 2013.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep481