On 13/12/2018 13:16, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:

I have some nominally hardy Hedychiums, and need to decide how to
store them over winter. It would be easiest just to dig them into
the earth in the polytunnel and ignore them, but does it matter if
they dry out more-or-less completely?

I don't know. Could you perhaps give them a little water once every few
weeks or so?

I grow Hedychium densiflorum "Assam Orange" and it has always been happy
in the ground outside over winter. And that ground, at times, has been
very wet - even waterlogged. On the other hand, with the drought last
summer they must have got very dry for weeks on end. Maybe they are just
very tolerant of soil water content.

Thanks very much. Can you remind me how cold your garden gets (or
where it is)?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


Nick, I dont let my pot fulls dry out completely and of course most are
outside in the wet ground, what we find is they are normally OK but
after a hard frost event (-9c or worse) the tubers near the surface go
to mush and the plant takes a season to recover, remembering to give a
generous mulch in the winter avoids that problem.

--
Charlie Pridham
Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk