SKU: 9012922331
are elephant ears tropical plants

are elephant ears tropical plants Thailand Giant Elephant Ear – Plant Detectives

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Description

are elephant ears tropical plants Thailand Giant Elephant Ear – Plant DetectivesThailand Giant Elephant Ear (Colocasia gigantea 'Thailand Giant') Thailand Giant Elephant Ear is a massive tropical foliage plant valued for its enormous leaves, fast warm season growth, and dramatic landscape scale. Its huge gray green to blue green foliage can create a lush, resort style effect in large containers, patios, poolside plantings, moist garden beds, and tropical style landscapes. This is one of the largest elephant ears commonly grown by

Thailand Giant Elephant Ear (Colocasia gigantea 'Thailand Giant')

Thailand Giant Elephant Ear is a massive tropical foliage plant valued for its enormous leaves, fast warm-season growth, and dramatic landscape scale. Its huge gray-green to blue-green foliage can create a lush, resort-style effect in large containers, patios, poolside plantings, moist garden beds, and tropical-style landscapes. This is one of the largest elephant ears commonly grown by gardeners, making it best suited for spaces where its size can be fully appreciated. With warmth, rich soil, steady moisture, and sun to partial shade, Thailand Giant Elephant Ear brings bold texture and impressive height to indoor and outdoor displays.

Distinctive Features

Thailand Giant Elephant Ear produces exceptionally large, heart-shaped to arrow-shaped leaves that may reach several feet long in warm, humid, well-grown conditions. The foliage is typically dull green to gray-green or blue-green and is held on thick, sturdy petioles that support the plant's giant tropical form. It grows quickly during warm weather and can create a major focal point in a single growing season when supplied with water, fertility, and heat. Flowers may appear occasionally as a spathe and spadix, but this plant is grown primarily for its enormous foliage and commanding presence.

Growing Conditions

  • Sun: Grows best in full sun to partial shade, with afternoon shade helpful in very hot or dry climates to reduce stress on the large leaves.
  • Soil: Prefers fertile, humusy, organically rich soil that stays consistently moist while still supporting healthy root growth.
  • Water: Performs best with regular moisture during active growth and should not be allowed to dry out completely in warm weather.
  • USDA Zones: Hardy outdoors in USDA Zones 8 to 10 in protected conditions, while colder climates should treat it as a seasonal container plant or overwinter the tubers indoors.
  • Mature Size: Typically reaches about 6 to 10 feet tall and 6 to 10 feet wide in favorable outdoor conditions, while container-grown plants may stay smaller.
  • Habit: Forms a massive upright to spreading tropical clump with huge leaves rising from the base on thick, sturdy petioles.

Ideal Uses

  • Focal Point: Use as a giant tropical focal point in large containers, patios, poolside plantings, courtyard beds, tropical-style landscapes, or spacious moist garden areas where its enormous leaves can stand out.
  • Container Planting: Grow in a very large decorative pot where its massive foliage can create dramatic summer impact and be moved or protected before cold weather.
  • Moist Garden: Plant in consistently moist beds, rain gardens, or protected low areas where steady moisture can support strong growth.
  • Tropical Garden: Pair with cannas, bananas, caladiums, gingers, coleus, and dark-leaved elephant ears to create a lush warm-season display.
  • Backdrop Planting: Use at the back of large beds or along spacious edges where its height and leaf size can frame lower tropical and seasonal plants.

Low Maintenance Care

  • Watering: Water regularly during active growth to keep the soil consistently moist, especially in containers and hot summer weather.
  • Mulching: Apply mulch around outdoor plants to conserve moisture, moderate soil temperature, and reduce weed competition.
  • Fertilizing: Feed during the active growing season with a balanced fertilizer to support large foliage and vigorous growth.
  • Wind Protection: Site in a sheltered location because strong wind can tear or damage the enormous ornamental leaves.
  • Overwintering: Lift and store tubers or move containers indoors before frost in climates where the plant is not reliably hardy.
  • Leaf Cleanup: Remove yellowing, torn, or frost-damaged leaves as needed to keep the plant looking clean and encourage fresh growth.

Why Choose Thailand Giant Elephant Ear?

  • Enormous Foliage: Produces huge gray-green to blue-green leaves that bring unmatched tropical scale to containers and landscapes.
  • Fast Warm-Season Growth: Responds quickly to heat, water, and fertility with impressive foliage production during the growing season.
  • Dramatic Structure: Adds height, texture, and bold architectural presence without relying on flowers for ornamental impact.
  • Moisture Loving: Performs best in consistently moist, fertile conditions where many bold tropical foliage plants thrive.
  • High-Impact Display: Creates a lush resort-style effect for patios, pool areas, large beds, courtyard plantings, and tropical garden designs.

Thailand Giant Elephant Ear is an excellent choice for gardeners who want tropical foliage on a truly impressive scale. Its enormous leaves, vigorous growth, moisture-loving habit, and commanding presence make it a standout plant for large containers, patios, moist garden beds, and dramatic warm-season landscape designs.

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sarah b
Carnegie, US
★★★★★ 4
Stick format is thick and difficult to rub in moderate climates
Style: SPF 50, Size: 1 count (Pack of 1)
I wanted to like it because the small stick format seemed very convenient to keep in my bag for emergency sunscreen reapplication with no chance of leaks. But I think I have learned my lesson about stick sunscreen - in order to hold together in a stick, it has to have a thick and chalky consistency. Which makes it hard to apply and hard to rub in. It's so thick that if I rub the stick over my entire face it feels like I'm applying way too much with a super heavy white cast, and if I dab here and there and try to spread it around, it's so thick it doesn't feel like it spreads into good coverage. The scent is fine. Update: I have found a specific use case for this - in extreme UV conditions like the equatorial tropics in midsummer, it's a good base layer under a more liquid mineral sunscreen, to add extra protection to the most exposed skin, like tops of shoulders, chest, nose and top of forehead. The thickness makes it protect better. It also softens a little and rubs in better in hot temps.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2025
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hilary
Bozeman, US
★★★★★ 5
Needs to be warmed, but works great for quick face re-application
Style: SPF 50, Size: 1 count (Pack of 1)
I love mineral sunscreen, it really works the best. But I also do not love mineral sunscreen because it's hard to apply. I don't think it matters what you do, they're just always difficult to apply and always leaving the white. This one isn't much different. I'm a scuba diver and my face sunscreen is washed off quickly doing multiple dives. I also get a weird "mask sunburn" if I don't reapply... but since I'm a diver I can't bring myself to buy or wear sunscreen that's not reef safe into the ocean. I was unsure if this would work because it's pretty solid. I threw it in my bag and once the sun warmed it up a little, I was able to apply it fairly easily between dives. I don't think it works unless it's warmed a bit first, but I like it for this purpose.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2025
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Trevor Vicars
Omaha, US
★★★★★ 5
Good sunscreen
Style: SPF 50, Size: 3 Fl Oz (Pack of 1)
It works and it's vegan what's more to say. I repurchase this often.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2025
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nphoton
Lexington, US
★★★★★ 3
I Wanted to Like It
Style: SPF 50, Size: 1 count (Pack of 1)
I really wanted to like it because of the great reviews it gets with backpackers and generally with people that don't like "greasy hands syndrome" after applying sunscreen. But after using a stick I found that it's just not that good. The good: small, lightweight container. Not greasy. Good protection, I was in the sun all day hiking multiple days straight and only put on sunscreen twice per day and I didn't have any burning... and I burn easily. The bad: Value: the $12.53 sunscreen container only lasted about 8 days. And that was just my arms, neck, and half my face since I wore a shirt and long pants and a wide brim hat every day when hiking. I would expect this amount of sunscreen to last a lot longer than that on such a limited area. I'm not a big person either. Application, chafing: it's the opposite of greasy, almost chalky. You use the stick to apply to your skin in stripes, then you have to "blend it in" by rubbing with the backs of your hands so your palms don't get chalky. Since the stick is so dry this requires a fair amount of force and it chafes as you rub it around. When your skin a bit sandy it hurts. Application, crumbling: on a chilly but sunny morning, about 45 F, I applied sunscreen and small chunks of the stick crumbled off. I watched precious chunks of the already overpriced sunscreen drop to the ground. Residue: while it's not greasy, it's physical sunblock so it gives your skin the characteristic whitish sparkle. That's to be expected. But what I didn't foresee is it will rub off on anything your skin touches. My gear had white chalk-like marks (technically titania powder?) on my shirt collars, backpack straps, sunglasses, and a few other high-touch items. Overall I think it's a neat idea. I'm not overly disappointed with my purchase. But for $12.50 I expect sunscreen to be easier to apply and for the container to last longer than about 8 days. I can't burn $50/month in the summer months when a single container of chemical sunscreen will do the job. Pro tip: you can buy food-safe 3 oz TSA travel containers. Load one of those up with chemical sunscreen and you have something that beats this in every way except for the greasiness, which you can mitigate by picking a lower SPF sunscreen (the 30 SPF you wear is infinitely better than the 50 SPF you skip!).
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Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2025
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D. Collins
Houston, US
★★★★★ 5
sunscreen does its job
Style: SPF 50, Size: 3 Fl Oz (Pack of 1)
Works well. Took a little more effort to rub into skin.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2026

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