Cold hardy Gingers

Cold hardy ginger plants produce stunning bunches of flowers which butterflies flock to! Many gingers of the Hedychium genus are cold hardy to Zone 7 as long as they are properly winterized.

Gingers grow up to 7 foot tall and will require support if you want the stalks to remain vertical. The leaves are well spaced and remind me a little of corn in their arrangement. They may be adorned with leaves that are narrow or wide, or even variegated depending on the variety. Blooming begins in mid summer, with the flowers being produced in a cluster at the top of the stalk.

Ginger rhizomes should be planted shallow with compost added. New shoots should start popping up soon after planting, but don't be surprised if it takes a year for the plant to produce its first flower if the rhizome cutting and attached stalk was small. Once fully established, gingers have moderate water and fertilizer needs, much less than the thirsty bananas and cannas. Winterizing is very important in Zone 7, in colder zones I would dig up the rhizome and store it inside in a pot of soil until spring.

Two years ago I started an orange bottle brush ginger (Hedychium coccineum) from a small rhizome cutting. This particular ginger is not often recommended for Zone 7, but I've "cheated" a little and placed the plant on the most sheltered side of my house right next to the foundation, which keeps it a little warmer during the coldest nights.

If you are looking to add a little height (and butterflies!) to your garden, give gingers a try!

It's not too late to winterize bananas!

If your life is like mine, you have so many things going on at once that before you know it there's snow on the ground and your plants are covered in it! Not to fear, as long as the ground has not froze hard down to the roots, cold hardy bananas should be fine! Today I finally winterized my pink velvet banana and expect it to start shooting up stalks in the spring.

Yuccas

While the sight of a yucca may conjure up visions of a dry desert landscape, far from the tropical landscapes bananas bring to mind, they are terrific plants for a tropical garden!

Yuccas are native to the arid and dry regions of the Americas, where temperatures fluctuate greatly and the sun is bright and unforgiving. They can tolerate frigid nights and weeks without water. They come in many varieties, some have leafs that stand proud and sharp, some have leaves that are fold over gently, still others are variegated with stunning gold streaks. Each year a single stem will grow out of the center of the leaf mass, bearing beautiful flowers for a short period of time in early summer.

It's important to keep in mind that while yuccas will do best in that one part of the garden you just can't keep moist enough for cannas and bananas, they still require regular watering until they are established. Once established only water when there is a prolonged dry period. Make sure the soil is well drained and fertilize sparingly, the weeds will use it more than the yucca! After flowering, I prefer to let the stems on my yuccas dry completely before removing to minimize stress on the plant. Trim away dead leafs if desired, and leave uncovered and in the winter to enjoy the look of a desert snow!

The yucca is a nearly indestructible plant that is perfect for the tough care areas tropical garden. Give them a try!

Growth of the Pink Velvet Banana

After almost two full growing seasons, the pink velvet banana (Musa velutina) has grown quickly! This year Virginia started off cool and ended dry, and despite giving the plant no special treatment other than a feed of fertilizer in the spring and treating for the dreaded Japanese beetles, the banana grew several pups and flowered! I am convinced this banana is quite hardy and a (perhaps the) perfect tropical for gardens in Virginia and the surrounding mid-Atlantic region.

As the first frosts have come in gone, it's important to winterize your tropicals before the ground freezes. Many tropicals can survive cold weather, but very few can survive their roots freezing! You can see how I winterize my tropicals in my post about winterization.

Pink velvet banana 18 months after planting

Bananas!

It's been a long time since a banana update!

Wow, it has been a very long time since I updated this blog! So far, my tropicals have not grown as fast as they have in previous years due to the long, cool spring. The tropicals I have discussed in this blog do quite well in a Virginia climate, but as a general rule; the more heat they have, the more they will grow!

Despite the cool start to the year, my hibiscus has done very well and just bloomed for the first time last week (six blooms at once, last year it was one at a time!) and the velvet pink banana has taken off like a rocket!

Unfortunately, Japanese beetles have taken a liking to my banana plants and did quite a bit of leaf damage before I sprayed (I use pesticides if there is a heavy infestation). Bananas are so fast growing the damaged leaf area is quickly replaced by new growth, so the plant will recover quite quickly from a beetle attack. You can trim the damaged leaf area off for aesthetics.


Here's a pic of the banana!

Honeysuckle brings both tropical flowers and tropical birds to a garden

Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) makes a great addition to a tropical garden. Not only does it look great, it also attracts those tropics inspiring hummingbirds!

Unlike the invasive Japanese honeysuckle, trumpet honeysuckle (sometimes referred to as coral honeysuckle) is native to the eastern half of the United States. In fact it is listed as endangered in the state of Maine!

Trumpets can be distinguished from other honeysuckles by their flower. While most honeysuckles have flowers that open wide with the long stamens mostly exposed, trumpet flowers are long and tubular with a small opening at the end, perfect for a hummingbird's beak! There are many flower color varieties to choose from (the one I have has a bright red tube with a yellow tip).

Trumpet honeysuckles are easy to care for. When I plant them I mix in compost or potting soil and make sure that the soil has good drainage by adding a little sand if necessary. A couple inches of mulch will help control weeds and help retain moisture. I fertilize using a slow release, low nitrogen fertilizer as trumpets don't need the "high octane" stuff bananas do! Once they have had a year to spread their roots they are drought tolerant, but I water them like my tropicals.

In Virginia trumpets are deciduous. After the leaves drop the bare vines will be covered in bright red berries which song birds relish. New growth will come from both the woody vines and the roots in the spring.

Honeysuckle requires a trellis to grow vertically, and like moonflower it has no suction cups or holdfasts that could cause damage. I want mine to grow up the side of my shed, so I covered one side of the shed with green wire garden fence. As the honeysuckle grows I thread the vines through the fence in different directions so that eventually the entire side of the shed will be filled with flowers!

Honeysuckle is easy to propagate, so if you need to fill in a large area I recommend buying just a few plants, then filling in the area with cuttings. To take a cutting, snip off about a foot of vine and place six inches of it in water. Place it in a sunny location and in a few weeks when there are sufficient roots plant it a couple feet from the parent. Make sure you take the cutting from new growth (old growth looks woody) or it will not root!

Unfortunately, trumpet honeysuckle is susceptible to tomato horn worms, so be vigilant! Two years ago my honeysuckle was attacked by horn worms and was almost completely defoliated in less than a week! (they have since recovered)

If you're looking for a great cold hardy tropical looking plant to fill in that fence line, get some trumpet honeysuckle. The hummingbirds will thank you!