Taking a deep breath, we're going to try a Hedychium outside this year.
It's the one called Tara and it will be in a pot 'sort of' in the lee
of the house and Tea Room walls but not tucked right into them. It
seems worth a try to see how it gets on and at least we do have others
if it does keel over. Watch this space! Apart from David P who has to
slash his way through his personal jungle, has anyone else tried this
outside over-winter and if so, in which location?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon

On Sep 25, 4:18*pm, Sacha wrote:
Taking a deep breath, we're going to try a Hedychium outside this year.

The time to plant this in in spring when the new shoots are starting
to appear. A nice sunny spot and well-manured soil are all it
needs.... plus copious supplies of water when growing strongly. It
does well in Manchester, York, Leicester, Cambridge, Ipswich, Norwich,
North Wales, South Wales and Birmingham. There's every reason to
assume it will grow perfectly well near Ashburton. It is a very tough
plant and well tested in areas with winters far more severe than we
see in the South West.

"Sacha" wrote ...
Taking a deep breath, we're going to try a Hedychium outside this year.
It's the one called Tara and it will be in a pot 'sort of' in the lee of
the house and Tea Room walls but not tucked right into them. It seems
worth a try to see how it gets on and at least we do have others if it
does keel over. Watch this space! Apart from David P who has to slash
his way through his personal jungle, has anyone else tried this outside
over-winter and if so, in which location?

There are a number of different sorts at the Saville Garden in the Great
Park, Windsor that seem to be OK planted out near the Glasshouse.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
just W. of London

On 2009-09-25 17:44:41 +0100, DaveP said:

On Sep 25, 4:18*pm, Sacha wrote:
Taking a deep breath, we're going to try a Hedychium outside this year.

The time to plant this in in spring when the new shoots are starting
to appear. A nice sunny spot and well-manured soil are all it
needs.... plus copious supplies of water when growing strongly. It
does well in Manchester, York, Leicester, Cambridge, Ipswich, Norwich,
North Wales, South Wales and Birmingham. There's every reason to
assume it will grow perfectly well near Ashburton. It is a very tough
plant and well tested in areas with winters far more severe than we
see in the South West.

This is going from greenhouse in a pot to a larger pot in the garden,
on the edge of the tea room lawn, opposite the back door if you can
visualise that, David. In fact, I've just been out there and I see two
have gone in. ;-) Some are flowering now in the greenhouse and
smelling like heaven. Once that's over, they'll be for the chop! The
Lonicera hildebrandiana is going to have to move back into its winter
home soon but at present is still quite sheltered and warm against a
wall. It's grown like a mad thing there, putting out enormous numbers
of new shoots and having flowered like crazy. I'm patting myself on
the back a bit there because it was my idea to put it against the tea
room wall this year and not against one of the posts on the lawn. It
seemed a lot happier in this new place, though I think the roses there
have almost given up in despair! It's a massive thing now and if only
we could be sure of a mild winter we might risk it outside but after
last year...... It would break my heart if we lost this one because
it's just so splendid.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon

On 2009-09-25 17:53:21 +0100, "Bob Hobden" said:


"Sacha" wrote ...
Taking a deep breath, we're going to try a Hedychium outside this year.
It's the one called Tara and it will be in a pot 'sort of' in the lee of
the house and Tea Room walls but not tucked right into them. It seems
worth a try to see how it gets on and at least we do have others if it
does keel over. Watch this space! Apart from David P who has to slash
his way through his personal jungle, has anyone else tried this outside
over-winter and if so, in which location?

There are a number of different sorts at the Saville Garden in the Great
Park, Windsor that seem to be OK planted out near the Glasshouse.

That's heartening, Bob, thank you. What kind of winters do they
experience there? I'm assuming milder than ours was last year but
perhaps not?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon

"Sacha" wrote ...
"Bob Hobden" said:
"Sacha" wrote ...
Taking a deep breath, we're going to try a Hedychium outside this year.
It's the one called Tara and it will be in a pot 'sort of' in the lee of
the house and Tea Room walls but not tucked right into them. It seems
worth a try to see how it gets on and at least we do have others if it
does keel over. Watch this space! Apart from David P who has to slash
his way through his personal jungle, has anyone else tried this outside
over-winter and if so, in which location?

There are a number of different sorts at the Saville Garden in the Great
Park, Windsor that seem to be OK planted out near the Glasshouse.

That's heartening, Bob, thank you. What kind of winters do they
experience there? I'm assuming milder than ours was last year but perhaps
not?

We tend to have warmer dryer summers and just slightly colder winters than
Cornwall but again probably not as wet.
They are planted in a bed under tall tree cover surrounded by shrubs
(Camellias etc) so do have their protection too.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
just W. of London

On 2009-09-25 22:14:22 +0100, "Bob Hobden" said:


"Sacha" wrote ...
"Bob Hobden" said:
"Sacha" wrote ...
Taking a deep breath, we're going to try a Hedychium outside this year.
It's the one called Tara and it will be in a pot 'sort of' in the lee of
the house and Tea Room walls but not tucked right into them. It seems
worth a try to see how it gets on and at least we do have others if it
does keel over. Watch this space! Apart from David P who has to slash
his way through his personal jungle, has anyone else tried this outside
over-winter and if so, in which location?

There are a number of different sorts at the Saville Garden in the Great
Park, Windsor that seem to be OK planted out near the Glasshouse.

That's heartening, Bob, thank you. What kind of winters do they
experience there? I'm assuming milder than ours was last year but perhaps
not?

We tend to have warmer dryer summers and just slightly colder winters than
Cornwall but again probably not as wet.
They are planted in a bed under tall tree cover surrounded by shrubs
(Camellias etc) so do have their protection too.

That makes me think we could try a few in the bed by the tea room which
is very sheltered. Thanks, Bob.
--
Sacha

In article ,
says...
Taking a deep breath, we're going to try a Hedychium outside this year.
It's the one called Tara and it will be in a pot 'sort of' in the lee
of the house and Tea Room walls but not tucked right into them. It
seems worth a try to see how it gets on and at least we do have others
if it does keel over. Watch this space! Apart from David P who has to
slash his way through his personal jungle, has anyone else tried this
outside over-winter and if so, in which location?

Sacha nearly all the Hedychiums are perferctly root hardy, we grow about
14 different species in the garden and apart from the more tender ones
flowering rather late have no problems at all with them, but I would
recommend in the ground rather than a pot if possible as the "for sale2
plants in their containers suffered badly last winter while all the
garden ones have flowered as normal
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

On 2009-09-26 10:19:05 +0100, Charlie Pridham
said:

In article ,
says...
Taking a deep breath, we're going to try a Hedychium outside this year.
It's the one called Tara and it will be in a pot 'sort of' in the lee
of the house and Tea Room walls but not tucked right into them. It
seems worth a try to see how it gets on and at least we do have others
if it does keel over. Watch this space! Apart from David P who has to
slash his way through his personal jungle, has anyone else tried this
outside over-winter and if so, in which location?

Sacha nearly all the Hedychiums are perferctly root hardy, we grow about
14 different species in the garden and apart from the more tender ones
flowering rather late have no problems at all with them, but I would
recommend in the ground rather than a pot if possible as the "for sale2
plants in their containers suffered badly last winter while all the
garden ones have flowered as normal

Thanks for all that, Charlie - we'll do that. I think that *usually*
our winters are marginally more severe than yours, though I know last
year was an exception to that and by a long way! We're probably going
to organise at least one of the house borders this autumn/spring, so we
could try some in there, as long as they don't block the windows! And
down the church walk might be a good sunny spot for them, too but
without parching them.
--
Sacha

"Sacha" wrote ...
Charlie Pridham
said:
Taking a deep breath, we're going to try a Hedychium outside this year.
It's the one called Tara and it will be in a pot 'sort of' in the lee
of the house and Tea Room walls but not tucked right into them. It
seems worth a try to see how it gets on and at least we do have others
if it does keel over. Watch this space! Apart from David P who has to
slash his way through his personal jungle, has anyone else tried this
outside over-winter and if so, in which location?

Sacha nearly all the Hedychiums are perferctly root hardy, we grow about
14 different species in the garden and apart from the more tender ones
flowering rather late have no problems at all with them, but I would
recommend in the ground rather than a pot if possible as the "for sale2
plants in their containers suffered badly last winter while all the
garden ones have flowered as normal

Thanks for all that, Charlie - we'll do that. I think that *usually* our
winters are marginally more severe than yours, though I know last year was
an exception to that and by a long way! We're probably going to organise
at least one of the house borders this autumn/spring, so we could try some
in there, as long as they don't block the windows! And down the church
walk might be a good sunny spot for them, too but without parching them.

That is our problem, parching in summer, I've often considered planting them
here but the summers are so dry these days I would constantly need to water
them. Even had Zonal Pels wilt this summer!

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
just W. of London

On 2009-09-26 15:15:22 +0100, "Bob Hobden" said:


"Sacha" wrote ...
Charlie Pridham
said:
Taking a deep breath, we're going to try a Hedychium outside this year.
It's the one called Tara and it will be in a pot 'sort of' in the lee
of the house and Tea Room walls but not tucked right into them. It
seems worth a try to see how it gets on and at least we do have others
if it does keel over. Watch this space! Apart from David P who has to
slash his way through his personal jungle, has anyone else tried this
outside over-winter and if so, in which location?

Sacha nearly all the Hedychiums are perferctly root hardy, we grow about
14 different species in the garden and apart from the more tender ones
flowering rather late have no problems at all with them, but I would
recommend in the ground rather than a pot if possible as the "for sale2
plants in their containers suffered badly last winter while all the
garden ones have flowered as normal

Thanks for all that, Charlie - we'll do that. I think that *usually* our
winters are marginally more severe than yours, though I know last year was
an exception to that and by a long way! We're probably going to organise
at least one of the house borders this autumn/spring, so we could try some
in there, as long as they don't block the windows! And down the church
walk might be a good sunny spot for them, too but without parching them.

That is our problem, parching in summer, I've often considered planting them
here but the summers are so dry these days I would constantly need to water
them. Even had Zonal Pels wilt this summer!

That must be something of a record, Bob. Mind you, we can't remember
just when we last had rain here! The sprinklers are going madly and
some things like Hydrangeas are really wilting badly. Different parts
of this garden seem to work in different ways, either being very wet
very quickly, or being very dry very quickly.
--
Sacha

Hi
I hope the experiment with the hedychium proceeds well.
Has anyone grown (or tried to grow), a plant from a dry rhizome?
I bought a very plump rhizome (so long ago I can't be sure, but probably h. gardeniarum), from a local garden centre at least three and a half years ago. It is around 6-8 inches long and 2+ inches in diameter, and when I bought it, it had no roots.
I potted it up with the two small buds covered with les than quarter inch of compost. Indoors, the rhizome did nothing for at all until I gave it some bottom heat (20C+) in the middle of last year. After several weeks, one bud broke and over winter it has made a cane of about 18 inches tall with 6 leaves. It has been stuck at that stage for several weeks and when I tipped it from the pot recently, as I had suspected, it has made no roots at all - the shoot has used the rhizome to make growth.

When I repotted it, I noticed a small pimple breaking through the dried sheaths at the base of the cane that I thought might be a root, so have replanted with an inch or so of the cane buried, including the pimple/assumed root.

Comments anyone?

Up in the Chilterns, I have had Hedychium Tara in the ground, in a not especially favoured spot, for about 7 years and it has come back every year so far. I have lost more this winter than the previous one: the cold was more prolonged this winter, though minimum temperatures were not as low (by about 2.5C) as the previous one. Since Tara doesn't shoot until well into May, at least where I live, I can't say for sure whether it has survived, but since it is underground all winter I can't imagine this winter was any worse for it than the last one for it - it's been evergreen plants that have suffered from the snow cover and prolonged cold. I lost a leptospermum scoparium that survived the previous year. My Metrosideros umbellata and Sophora tetraptera have taken quite a trashing but I think they are still with us; a red cordyline is defoliated; protea cynaroides and a puya alpestris that were heavily damaged last winter now both dead.