Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Heleconia care?, 1 by dyzzypyxxy

dyzzypyxxy wrote:
Luckily, it gets just barely cold enough here in winter to discourage the invasive nature of these guys. They are fairly widely used as landscape features in the shade here. Further south, you mostly see them in big pots or planters that are contained.

I have the orange Psittacorums randomly popping up in a shady border under a big oak tree, and sometimes they wander out into the gravel pathway, but I just yank them up and plant them back in the border. Planted the red/cream ones this summer again under a big oak tree next to the driveway. I'm confident they'll only stray as far as the sprinkler sprays. They do like lots of water!

The Rostratas do much better if I keep them in a pot so I can coddle and protect them. I only got one bloom this year because they're in the border, battling with the oak tree roots. We had two winters that were record cold in '09 and '10 and there weren't any blooms at all after they re-appeared in late spring.