Looking great in mid August is Hedychium spicatum. This is a ginger lily species we saw throughout our late 1990s travels in Yunnan, China. Pictured below are our 3 year old seed-grown specimen, which has already become a massive 5′ tall x 10′ wide. The flower is much smaller than some of the more showy
Back in the early 2000s, we grew the spiral ginger, Costus speciosus for many years, before finally loosing it in a very cold winter, but its potential hardiness has always fascinated us. In 2013, Georgia plantsman Ozzie Johnson collected a specimen near the border of North Vietnam and Southern China at 3,900′ elevation. Below is
In flower this week is the amazing ginger lily, Hedychium ‘Flaming Torch’…our 1999 introduction, with its’ fragrant peachy flowers is still looking great! This is another of those plants that never sold particularly well, so we haven’t offered it since 2016. Winter hardiness is Zone 7b and warmer.
The amazing Hedychium deceptum from India, has recently burst into flower here at JLBG. This species is fairly new to commerce, but has proven to be an amazing, compact-growing specimen that thrives even in our full sun. The dark cinnamon calyces really make the scarlet flowers stand out. We rate this as hardy to Zone
Early fall is peak ginger lily season, and Hedychium ‘Anne Bishop’ is looking particularly stunning this week. This amazing cultivar always ranks near the very top of our favorites list.
The 7′ tall, and very floriferous Hedychium ‘Flaming Torch’ is looking quite stunning today in the garden. Although they are commonly called ginger lily, they are not a true lily (genus Lilium) or a true ginger plant (genus Zingiber). Hedychiums are prized for their summer and early fall floral shows atop bold-foliaged stalks. The inflorescences
Flaming Torch of Summer Read More »
Here’s another oddity in the fabulous ginger genus, hedychium. First, Hedychium ellipticum requires shade, compared to most hedychiums that need sun to flower. Also, Hedychium ellipticum has pendant stalks, compared to the rigidly upright stalks of most more commonly grown ginger lilies. We love the elegant flower heads that adorn the garden in late July/early
Elliptical Ginger Lily Read More »
Just like the Broadway play, we love the plant, Boesenbergia hamiltonii. We acquired this gem from India in 2005 before it actually existed as a species. Back in the day, taxonomists who dealt only with dead, smashed plants, had created a rather large mess assigning the name Boesenbergia longiflora to every reasonably similar-looking ginger from
Hamilton…the flower Read More »
Flowering now in the garden is the little-known Hedychium deceptum, which translates to deceived ginger. Discovered in 1922 by UK plantsman HJ Elwes of galanthus fame, it was initially identified as Hedychium greenii, until taxonomists realized that it was not the same as that taxon, so to commerate their confusion/deception, they coined the name Hedychium
Late June is when the amazing hidden cone gingers (curcuma) begin to explode here at JLBG. Here is our clump of Curcuma ‘Pink Wonder’ this week emerging from what looked like a bare patch of ground in the woodland garden. After the flowers finish, the red-striped foliage explodes to 6-7′ tall.
