Dear Bob, In addition to what has already been said, I'd like to add that Colocasia are hungry and thirsty plants! I grow about 17 different varieties of Colocasia all of them standing in water. Colocasia do not need to stand in water, and will grow happily under normal moist garden conditions, but will grow much bigger, better and faster if given lots of water. Secondly, Colocasia prefer to grow in the full sun, most will also do well in partial shade, but many of the dark leaved varieties such as C. esculenta 'Black Magic' and C. esculenta 'Midnight' tend to have a washed out colour when shade grown. Others like the dwarf C. fallax are much more shade tolerant. Apropos Byron's comments on growth medium, Colocasia will grow very well in a rich compost-based medium, but as he rightly notes it will float out of the pot once submerged in a pond. The solution is to use a heavy clay-like loam / top soil / dirt / whatever you want to call it! You can use the same soil that is recommended for waterlilies and most other marginal aquatic plants. Personally I like to use equal parts heavy loam and composted bark together with a generous portion of bone meal and bounceback, this ensures a rich heavy medium that will not float out of the pot! Lastly, the question of dormancy comes to mind. As most (if not all) Colocasia species originate from SE Asia, I think it is safe to assume that they do not require dormancy and will happily grow year round if you can provide adequate heat and light. But they will go dormant in temperate climates. Depending on how cold it gets they may be left outdoors where their leaves will die back, but the underground tubers will remain unharmed. Most of the commercially available varieties are reportedly hardy to Zone 7b (-12.3 to -17.7 C). From what I've read hardiness increases if plants are kept on the dry side during winter. In colder zones it is recommended that tubers be dug up in fall and stored in moist peat or similar medium in the basement. Fortunately I have a relatively mild climate and can leave my Colocasia in the pond year round where they do not go dormant but do look rather "ratty" during winter. I might just as well add that there are approximately 8 species of Colocasia and many more cultivars. The ornamental varieties have become very popular of late, and as Byron noted Plant Delights Nursery does have a mouth watering selection of new cultivars from Hawaii. There is also a large group of culinary Colocasia (perhaps even more varieties than of the ornamental types). These have been cultivated in Tropical Asia since 5000 BC (some sources say 8000 BC), and is the oldest cultivated crop in the world! The starchy tubers can be boiled or the leaves can be cooked as a green vegetable. As all parts of Colocasia contain calcium oxide crystals, it has to be boiled for several minutes to render them safe to consume. Reputedly some varieties have better flavour and texture than others, but I must admit that I have never tried them ;-) If anyone is interested in trading I have offsets of most varieties available. Bob, I hope this answers your questions! Kindest regards, Pieter van der Walt (South Africa)