Hedychium.

Alberto Castillo ezeizabotgard@hotmail.com
Sun, 21 Aug 2005 14:46:06 PDT


>From: Kenneth Hixson <khixson@nu-world.com>
>Reply-To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
>To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
>Subject: [pbs] Hedychium.
>Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 12:04:57 -0700
>
>Hi, All:
> >Erm... that should read, "cold sensitive".  Each winter it is
> >damaged earlier than the other species, H. coronarium and H. greenii.
>
>          Brook's mention of Hedychium reminds me of one of my
>gardening failures.  A certain mailorder seed house in South Carolina
>sold Hedychium gairdnerianum for several years with glowing praise
>for the fragrance of the flowers, and the claim that it was hardy to
>Zone 7.  Well, it has survived for several (7?) years, so I suppose it
>it hardy, though we haven't had a hard winter for several years.
>As to the fragrance, that is a little harder to determine, as it has never
>flowered.
>          It freezes down in the fall, starts growth relatively late in the
>spring, then grows quickly to about three feet tall, and stops.  Eventually
>it starts new shoots from the base, which may get to full height before
>freezing, or may not.  Right now, in mid August, it has about 6-8 sprouts
>coming from the base, perhaps 6" long/tall.  It seems unlikely it will
>flower this year either.  For the last 3-4 years it has been in a large
>(5 gallon) pot, so it can get an earlier start in the spring and not freeze
>down so early in the fall, but that hasn't helped.  It also has a pan under
>the pot, so it isn't stressed for water
>          Unless someone has some helpful suggestions, this probably will
>be the last year for this plant here.  I doubt that I will try different
>Hedychiums
>in the future, given the lack of success with this one.
>
>Ken  Z7 Oregon


Hi:
   Sorry Mary Sue, but Ken has brought forward a most interesting subject 
and his posting deserves to be quoted complete. Very surprisingly, most 
people fail to realize that if a plant is hardy to a given climatic zone 
lower temperatures this single fact has nothing to do with the rest of its 
cycle. What is the use of having a plant survive the winter if it will never 
grow well or even flower?. Of course, some nursery people is very active in 
informing potential customers of hardiness of their plants but astutely add 
nothing of the rest. Hedychium gardnerianum, mentioned here is rather well 
known in downtown Buenos Aires and the northern coastal suburbs. That is to 
say zone 10 in winter and 10-11 in summer. It behaves as a perennial foliage 
plant (year round) grows quite neglected even quite dry in the worst heat of 
summer and flowers abundantly every year and it does very well in dappled 
shade. From the rhizomes there is a constant although not rampant increase. 
The dark green foliage is sumptuous and the yellow flowers with very long 
crimson anthers are stunning. Although there are other Hedychiums reported 
to be hardy, a climate in which they would not retain their perennial 
foliage and flower regularly is clearly not for such (and scores of other 
plants) although this spoils a good sale. This same plant brought some 
distance into the open land, with a say zone 9 winter has the perennial 
foliage battered by low temperatures and remains stunted.
Regards
Alberto

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