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Caladium Matriarchs Big Backers Of Festival

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By BILL RETTEW JR.

Highlands Today

Published: August 17, 2008

LAKE PLACID - No question about it; those are caladium tubers, but never bulbs, and they're caladium leaves, not flowers.
Darlene and Carolyn Phypers, of Happiness Farms Inc., and Dot Bates of Bates Sons & Daughters Inc., are longtime caladium farmers and will politely explain to the uninformed the differences.

Fourteen or 15 local caladium farming families plant to grow only the tubers, and then discard the distinctive and colorful leafy tops.

And while local farmers successfully lobbied the Florida Nursery Growers Association to declare the caladium a flower for business reasons, those fields are filled with bright and splashy leaves.

The two Phypers and Bates are regular volunteer organizers for the annual Caladium Festival.

Bates and her family have donated about 100,000 potted plants to the town and festival. The Phypers have donated more than 300,000 bulbs.

Darleen Phypers said her favorite variety of about 100 types is Rosebud.

"With a lot of plants, you wait for the blooms," said Darlene Phypers. "Caladiums are easier to grow, and it's instant color."

The caladium matriarchs talked about farming and weather. Hurricanes have wiped out entire crops.

"We cope with it like farmers have done through the ages," said Bates. "We take what God sends us."

""Mother Nature has us either irrigating or pumping out water," said Carolyn Phypers. "It's too much or too little."
Darlene Phypers doesn't need to play blackjack for the rush.

"Don't go to Vegas," she said. "There are no bigger gamblers than farmers."

The ladies talked about living in rural Lake Placid.

Darleen Phypers said Lake Placid is a great place to raise children, while her sister-in-law, Carolyn Phypers, said that everyone accepts each other for who they are.

Dot Bates enjoys the closeness and community spirit of the Caladium Capital of the World's residents.

While Orlando and Apoka were the first places in Florida to grow the caladium, the choice to plant 90 percent of the world's crop locally in Lake Placid, and south of Lake Istokpoga, was no chance mistake.

Carolyn Phypers pointed to the climate and soil as reasons for successful caladium crops, while her sister-in law said it was the growing season which lasts a little bit longer, and Bates said it was the lower Ph of the area's black muck.

Bates and the Phypers wanted caladium tuber buyers to know that a portion of all sales, along with an equal match from the growers, goes to the University of Florida Institute of Florida Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAAS) for caladium research, including development of more varieties, and disease control.

Bill Rettew Jr. may be contacted at 386-5857 or rettew@highlandstoday.com

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