Hedychium.

Alberto's reply addresses a really important point and shortcoming of
the USDA zone system. The USDA system, refering to average cold
temperatures, doesn't address the heat requirements of plants. In USDA
8, it makes the mistake of lumping the hot and humid, summer wet
southeast of the United States with the cool, summer dry Pacific
Northwest. Needless to say, many plants that thrive in the southeast
fail to thrive or fail all together in the "other" USDA 8. Strangely,
many plants that are listed as hardy to USDA 7 in hot summer climates
fail here in the coastal mediterranean climate of USDA 9 California.
We don't get enough summer heat to harden off the woody tissues. Plus,
many plants adapted to winter time dormancy go semi-dormant in our dry
summers and make the mistake of reawakening as fall's cooler
temperatures arrive, putting on fresh, soft new growth that invariably
gets nipped by the frosts of October. Add to that the heat
requirements of many Central and South American plants (to say nothing
of plants from the eastern Cape of South Africa)... well, you get the
picture.

Hedychiums, being the example, may grow well but never bloom in this
"other" USDA 8/9. At least Hedychiums produce attractive, lush,
tropical appearing foliage. After all, who says a plant has to bloom
to be a valuable garden plant?

The American Horticultural Society has attempted to address the
shortcomings of the USDA zone system with a heat tolerance system with
12 zones and a good bit more detail than the cold tolerance systems in
use. It's only a few years old and not in general use yet. I have
reservations about it, however, as I do about any system that takes
into consideration only one variable. Following that kind of logic,
you would need multiple maps to decide what plant would thrive in you
locale. There would be a map for cold tolerance, for heat tolerance,
for soil type, for elevation, for rain season, uh... there must be more
variables to consider as well. Yeah, there are shortcomings to the
desire to measure and evaluate everything. There's a great deal of
wonder and mystery (even magic?) in horticulture. Thank goodness for
that!

Thank you, I'll climb down from my soapbox now.

Brook

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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