Went to the local gardener's nursery Saturday afternoon. Picked up a hardy banana for $20 (a steal compared to many other places locally) and a mandevilla vine at a discount.
Owner gave me what he called a "hawaiian ginger lily". It's got long leaves on it, about 2-3" wide, loooong, probably 8+" long each. Stalks look like bamboo. :) He said it'll get a little taller (it's about 3' now), and will get "the most wonderful fragrant white blooms I've ever smelled." TOld me to put it somewhere with only some direct sun (not full sun), and "keep it wet".
Looked on the Plants Database ,and only saw a "ginger lily". Looks like the right leaves, and height. General information on the database is really sparse, though.
Anybody have one? Will it last the winter in z7b? My nursery fellow seemed to think so, as he has had them in his yard, and "grew these ones from divisions from his own gardens". I tied one of the stalks gently to a bamboo stick, as it was leaning a little.
Looking for some personal growing experience to help me out..
Thanks,
Jennifer
Hawaiian Ginger Lily
Sounds like the Butterfly white ginger.. I have them and they smell as good as a gardenia..I have some in shade and some in full sun, they both do fine..They bloom late here, one year frost got them before they were finished..That's unusual for south GA..Plant them close enough to ejoy the scent..I have a few by my back door..I'm not sure about hardiness for you.. If we have a hard winter here in zone 8, it gets some of them.. Maybe if you would muclh heavily..
Larkie
hi jen,
it sounds like you have Hedychium coronarium, as Larkie mentioned it is called "Butterfly Ginger". It will grow in medium to full sun and hardy to zone 7. Be sure to plant it on the south side, mulch it over well in the winter. You should be okay. This is a wonderful smelling ginger.
I agree with the white butterfly ginger, hedychium coronarium. Mine are in bloom right now. Yours should be okay but I would mulch heavy. And they do smell sweet.
Ours CAN take full sun for half a day. Wonderful fragrance...
South side? Really... hmmm.. then I picked the wrong place. My hosta bed is closer to the south side of the house ... (I know, not the best for hostas, but they're not the really shady varieties).
Would it totallly go bonkers if I replanted it in the next few days? I don't mind moving it to my south-facing bed... I worried it'd get too much sun there, but if you guys think that's a good spot, I'll go for it.
Jen, south side is not a must, it just would be better protected from the cold north winds. If you have a micro climate on the south side, all the better chances of it making it through the winter.
They can take a heck of a lot of sun. We have them in our hot sun growing in full and part sun.I don't think they'd go bonkers too much if you moved them. You might loose a few blooms, but gingers are pretty good at bouncing back, their rhizomes are little "power houses".
If they have too much shade, they tend to fall over and not bloom as much.
No blooms yet , so I wouldn't be missing anything there. I did notice last night that it looked like they were "falling over" a little bit. I figured it was just some of the wind we've had.
The south side bed is protected by my house, my a/c pump unit, as well as a little protection from one side of my yard fence. Hmmm.... that does sound like a good idea.
I'm already considering building little "plastic pup tents" for a few plants - namely the ones I got on Saturday (banana, ginger, and the mandevilla).
Thank you! Looks like I'll be doing a little digging & moving in the next few days. :)
have fun! nothing better than dirt under the nails!