Hedychiums

Clearing the now frost touched stems of my ginger lilies this morning made me realise how much I enjoy these very tropical looking perennials. Even in their now brownish state they still look quite interesting.

Rhizomatous perennials from eastern Asia, I only grow a few of the hardier species and varieties.  I'd grow more if I had the room but, alas, space is lacking.  Although their footprint is reasonably compact the tall summer stems, clad with large, undivided leaves, can easily reach 6ft / 180cm or more in the taller varieties. Related to bananas and true gingers, the stems are formed by the overlapping leaf bases, with new foliage emerging from the centre of the elongating stem until, finally, the flower heads emerge.

With me, the earliest to flower is Hedychium 'Stephen', usually by early August.  I actually photographed this clump in my garden in 2012.  13 years later the clump is still extant though the rhizomes have wandered around a bit, been divided (best left till spring), suffered quite heavy frost at times but are still going well. 

The individual flowers are faintly scented, don't last long, but progressively open up the elongated flower head.  Expect about five days flowering per stem, with individual stems maturing at slightly different rates to prolong the season.

Hedychium 'Tara' is, arguably, even more attractive, with big heads of orange flowers above even taller stems.  A statement plant even before it flowers, it's more reliably clump forming than 'Stephen'.

Again, the individual flowers don't last that long, but a decent sized clump can be in flower for a fortnight, usually by early September in my garden. 

If 'Tara' has a failing, it's a lack of scent, not something that can be said about the next two.  I bought my next Hedychium as 'Pink Hybrid' from Hardy Exotics, near Penzance in Cornwall.  I'm not sure of the naming - there does seem to be a lot of confusion - but it's thrived for years in what must be the coldest spot in my garden.  Whatever it is, it's powerfully scented - as long as it flowers before frost has a chance to hit.

It's also, as Hedychium's go, fairly long flowering, with multiple flowers emerging in turn from. the individul buds in the head,

This a characteristic sharde with the equally well scented Kahili ginger, Hedychium gardnerianum.  I grow this one in a large tub at present but it seems to be hardy with me so, as I've recently cleared a space by my south facing back wall, it can go in there, hopefully to clump up and produce increaing numbers of the impressive flower heads.

The final Hedychium I currently grow is H.greenii.  I've written about this one before so I won't go into detail - but here's a picture from the garden taken late September.  It's another late flowering one.

With all of these it's important to leave the clumps in one place for as long as possible.  The rhizomes need time to build up the energy needed to produce the tallest stems and maximum flower heads.  And be aware that they can late to resprout in the spring, often hardly visible till June.  Apart from that a good mulch over the rhizomes in winter; moist, ferile soil; and a position in sun or late shade suits them well.  They certainly provide the tropical touch to any garden.

 

Exotica

In my last post I mentioned that I was a couple of days away from Hedychium gardnerianum flowering.  It's now fully out - and looking spectacular.

Fully mature spike of Hedychium gardnerianum

Kahili ginger, from the Himalayas in India, Nepal and Bhutan, has got to be one of the most exotic hardy(ish) perennial plants that can be grown in UK gardens.  It's not quite as tough as H.coccineum 'Tara' that I illustrated in the last post but the flower spike is twice the size.  Longer and far fatter, it makes an even greater impact in the September garden.  As part of my exotic theme I've grown it for a number of years, feared I'd lost it in some recent bad winters, but it's always come back but not always flowered.  This year has been an exception.  The mild conditions last winter allowed the pseudostems and their broad, glaucous leaves to overwinter.  That triggers better growth in the new stems and one has now come to full development.

I grow mine in a pot to give a better chance of flowering.  It also allows me to protect the plant if winter does get harsh.  All of which means I can move it around if needed.  Currently it's close by my plant of Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii'.  Together they make a fantastic combination.

Hedychium gardnerianum grows alongside Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii'

A broader view includes Hedychium greenii.  My plant of Chaemerops humilis sits below Acca sellowiana and Phyllostachys nigra in the background.

Hedychium gardnerianum in this view over the gravel circle in the rear garden

Get closer to the plant - but only in the evening - and the sweet scent that is designed to attract night flying moths hits from feet away.

Hardiness is a relative thing, of course.  This ginger is certainly root - well, rhizome - hardy through most of lowland UK, particulalrly if well mulched.  The evergreen top growth isn't hardy except in very mild winters - but new growth will certainly come from the fat rhizomes by the end of May.  The race is then on to produce flowers before winter sets in.  Good weather this year has allowed growth - and the result has been glorious.

We once were lost but now are found

One of the joys of renovating a rather overgrown, winter damaged garden is finding plants that you thought you'd lost.  It may be a seedling from the original, it may be a small plant hidden away under the growth of neglect, it may be delayed regeneration from a fragment of root, tuber or rhizome.  I've previously mentioned Euphorbia mellifera, Freesia laxa and Tritelia laxiflora but over the last year as I've slowly cut back and brought the garden back to life I've found others.

Star of the foundlings has to be Hedychium gardnerianum.  I lost a large pot of this to the extreme winter of 2009-2010 but had a rhizome tucked away where I was trying to establish a colony in one of the borders.  I thought I'd lost that as well until, in late summer last year, a small shoot popped up with the unmistakable glaucous sheen of this gorgeous ginger lily.  It will probably take another year or so to re-establish and flower again even though it is now pot grown and cossetted but at least it survived when so many other plants didn't.  And, assuming I keep it healthy, I've again got these fabulously scented flowers to look forward to:

Hedychium gardnerianum

I used to grow quite a few hardy geraniums before my interests turned to more exotic plantings.  A few still grow in the garden but one I thought I had lost as the front garden became more shaded was the sun loving Geranium renardii.  To be honest, I wasn't too bothered.  My tastes had moved on, I thought.  3 bad winters in a row have forced me to be more conservative so I was delighted to find a seedling of this pretty geranium when I was renovating a border in the front garden.  It's well away from the site of the parent - a tribute to the explosive seed pods - and in the wrong place so I've moved it to a sunnier spot in the hopes that it will once again produce an early summer display like the one I photographed in 2005:

Geranium renardii

When I moved into the garden in 1996 there was little here apart from 6 big bushes of Fuchsia 'Mrs Popple', one of the largest flowered 'hardy' forms.  (Stem hardy down here in Plymouth, root hardy in most parts of the UK.)  Six became three, then two and finally down to one as I cleared them to make room for other plants and plantings.  I kept one in the rear garden for its long season of flowering but removed the rest, roots and all.  So, I thought.  Two winters ago I lost my one remaining plant to old age and cold.  It hasn't regenerated - and I hadn't kept any youngsters.  But, coincidentally, one of the plants I removed five years ago has regenerated.  It was in my warmest border and must somehow have survived unseen amidst a host of tender shrubs and perennials until winter wiped them out and allowed it back into the light.  Welcome back.  Though I'll probably propagate it and move it again. Another mild winter and it will get too big for its position - and I need that space for more tender plants.

Fuchsia 'Mrs Popple' alongside Euryops pectinatus in 2006

Bridal wreath, Francoa sonchifolia, isn't the hardiest plant in the world so I was fairly confident in thinking three harsh winters had finished it off.  I was wrong.  There was no sign of it last year but it's popped up again this year, probably from a deeply buried bit of root.  I admire its persistence but, once again, I've had to move it to a less shady site.  Sun, not the increasing amounts of shade in its original spot, is what it needs to produce its airy spikes of white and pink flowers.

Francoa sonchifolia

My final plant is is one I thought had dwindled away, not liking my rather damp acid loam, preferring drier, sandier soils.  Libertia perigrinans is a pretty, grassy leaved plant with a golden centre stripe running through the centre of the upright foliage.  It's also a runner, roving about mildly by virtue of thin rhizomes.  What I thought was dwindling was actually relocation.  The plant had moved itself to the centre of my clump of Iris sibirica 'Perry's Blue' and was hidden amongst the taller foliage of the Iris.  Dividing the Iris clump last summer revealed the Libertia.

Libertia perigrinans

The moral of the story?  Even in a small garden plants can appear to be lost - but isn't it lovely when they come back to life