Colocasia gigantea 'Thailand Giant'

Last year I bought a large species of elephant ear (Colocasia gigantea 'Thailand Giant' ) at my favorite local nursery and when fall came, I lifted the bulb for winter storage. Thai Giant is an enormous variety of elephant ear that is rated for zone 8b so chances are prettty good that the bulb will freeze in our area if left in the ground. Last winter it lived in our garage.

This spring I decided to plant it in a large pot for the summer. It did very well in the pot (although I probably didn't fertilize it as much as it needed), and it bloomed several times over the summer. 

Here is a closer look of the interior of the plant. You can see the three old bloom stalks with pod-like structures that must contain the seeds.

Several weeks ago, I discovered a tiny elephant ear coming up in the iris bed,and it appears to be an offspring of the Thai Giant. I've read that this type of elephant ear can be propagated by seed and that it is self-pollinating but I didn't know it would re-seed by itself. 

Now I'm wondering whether I can grow some more from these seed pods, but I've got a feeling this may be one of those lucky happenstances that I could not accomplish by plan. I might give it a try anyway. This is the only elephant ear I've ever grown that has propagated by seed.

Click here for an article on how to grow elephant ears from seed.