Can they go in a pond? I think I read somewhere that they can be poisonous to dogs and cats, but I SWEAR I've seen them in ponds. I have a huge one that needs re-potting, and I thought I'd ask.

Maybe you have the ones you saw mistaken for the purple leaved gosh-whats-their-name plants? I have some of those, just can't remember the name unfortunately. My elephant ears are all in the ground, never tried them in the pond.

Taro?

I dunno, I've been googling it and getting mixed results. Some sites say that they can be bog plants, others say no. I guess theres like 3 different genus of elephant ear; some are ok in the water, others aren't. I wish I knew, it'd look really cool in there.

Have seen the same thing over many sites. I think it confuses folks and so when someone else makes a site and does a list, then it just gets repeated erring on the side of caution/doubt. I've seen Taro, Canna, and Calla lily's on the no-no lists, but yet folks do have them in pond, and successfully. I tend to lean to Bonnie Hales site for more correct information though.

Funny - that Taro is what I use, not in the pond, but in the plant filter of two of my ponds. They die down during the winter, and come right back up in spring. I never knew they weren't "made" for the water - I got them at a koi show of all places...

Funny you mention that, cuz that's what I figured I'd try with this elephant ear. I'm going to drill a bunch of holes in a bucket and put lava rock in it with the plant and plop it in the filter. I figure it'll look nice, and help with the filtration. VOILA!!!

I've had Taro (Elephant Ear family) is my pond since I've had it and never had any problems.

THanks Debi. I put the thing in my filter, filled the pot with holes, put lava rock in it, put a filter pad on top of it all, and I have the filter dumping its water into that before it goes back into the pond. The plant (so far) seems happy actually. You should have seen the roots that sucker had when I pulled it out of it's "house pot". They were almost 4 feet long!!!

Another plant that works as a great filter is Watercress. Mine goes crazy when used as part of the filter.

Watercress, eh? I'll have to look that one up. I want a bunch of plants in there now after seeing the elephant ear in there. it looks nice. Thanks again Debi!

You know, I was looking up canna and Im confused on that too. I have seen some canna that is listed as aquatic canna, and some says to plant in the ground...so maybe its just certain types of elephant ears? That would explain mixed results. Im getting the same thing with my research.