{"title":"Ginger Lilies (Hedychium)","description":"\u003cp\u003eYou will smell a ginger lily before you see one. Walk a Southern garden after seven on an August evening and \u003cem\u003eHedychium coronarium\u003c\/em\u003e announces the corner they occupy from twenty feet away, which is the entire point of the plant and the reason the flowers have been worked into garlands wherever the species grows. The epithet says as much: \u003cem\u003ecoronarium\u003c\/em\u003e, used for garlands. These are true relatives of culinary ginger, Zingiberaceae, running on thick aromatic rhizomes and throwing up canes of ribbed, clasping foliage that would earn a place in the border on leaf alone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe flower repays a close look, because most of what you are admiring is not a petal at all. The broad white wing that gives white ginger lily half the common names in the trade is the labellum, a fused pair of sterile stamens, four to six centimeters across and notched at the tip with a faint yellow wash at the throat. Two more petaloid staminodes flank the labellum, and the true corolla lobes are the narrow strips behind. Each flower lasts about a day, and a single bud will push several hundred of them across roughly six weeks, which is how a clump manages to bloom from late summer into fall without ever looking crowded. The species is the national flower of Cuba.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe genus ranges from the eastern Himalaya and Assam through India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam into southern China and Taiwan, and the garden species divide neatly by color: \u003cem\u003eH. coronarium\u003c\/em\u003e white and night-scented, \u003cem\u003eH. coccineum\u003c\/em\u003e in scarlet and coral, and selections such as 'Disney' bred for warmer tones. All are herbaceous here. The tops go down with the first hard frost and return from the rhizome in spring, so leave the fallen foliage over the crown as insulation through winter, clear the bed in late winter, and divide in early spring if a clump has outrun the space. Give sun to part shade and ground that stays moist. Ginger lilies will take occasional standing water and will rot in permanent standing water.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne honest caution comes with the generosity. Spread is almost entirely vegetative, by rhizome fragments carried on water and machinery rather than by seed, and while no Southeastern state lists the species as invasive, white ginger lily has caused real trouble in Hawaiian wet forest. The lesson travels even where the listing does not. Site the rhizomes where they are contained, never dump divisions in a ditch or a creek bottom, and a clump stays where you put one. Find more fragrance and structure among our \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/herbaceous-perennials\"\u003eHerbaceous Perennials\u003c\/a\u003e, warm-climate company in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/sub-tropicals\"\u003eSub-tropicals\u003c\/a\u003e, and further scented plants in \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/our-favorites\"\u003eOur Favorites\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"hedychium-coronarium","title":"Hedychium coronarium","description":"\u003cp\u003eFew flowers announce themselves the way white ginger lily does after dark. Through late summer and early fall, the tall leafy stems open dense terminal spikes of pure white flowers, each bloom shaped like a hovering butterfly with a small yellow-green stain at the throat, and each one throwing a rich, sweet perfume that carries across a warm garden in the evening air. The scent is jasmine-deep and unmistakable, the reason the flowers are gathered for perfume and personal adornment across the tropics.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe name is as pretty as the plant. \u003cem\u003eHedychium\u003c\/em\u003e joins the Greek \u003cem\u003ehedys\u003c\/em\u003e, sweet, and \u003cem\u003echion\u003c\/em\u003e, snow, sweet snow, for the fragrant white flowers; the species name \u003cem\u003ecoronarium\u003c\/em\u003e marks a bloom long used for garlands and crowns. This is a true ginger, a member of the Zingiberaceae that spreads by thick aromatic rhizomes and throws long, canna-like leaves. Despite the common name Hawaiian ginger lily, the plant is no native of the islands: the wild home is the Eastern Himalaya and the hills of southern Asia, from India, Nepal, and Bhutan through Myanmar and Thailand into southern China, and the ginger merely naturalized in Hawaii long after arriving with people.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne country claims the flower outright. In Cuba the white ginger lily is la mariposa, the butterfly, and has stood as the national flower since 1936, an emblem of purity, peace, and the long fight for independence. The story goes that Cuban women wove the blooms into their hair and dress in colonial times and used the intricate, folded inflorescence to hide and carry secret messages for the independence cause, a small white flower pressed into the service of a nation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the garden, give white ginger lily rich, moist ground in sun to part shade and let the rhizomes build a lush tropical stand for a border, a poolside, a pond margin, or a large container set where the evening fragrance drifts toward a door or a seat. The plant grows fast and spreads steadily, so allow room or a contained bed, and note the difference climate makes: in the warm, wet tropics the ginger can run aggressively and is considered invasive along waterways, while in temperate zones 8 to 10 winter dormancy keeps the plant well-mannered. A deep mulch carries the rhizomes through cold at the northern edge.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057879191667,"sku":"HEDY-CORO-01G","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-893.jpg?v=1720138426"},{"product_id":"hedychium-coccineum","title":"Hedychium coccineum","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis ginger relative is a tall herbaceous perennial spreading by rhizomes. Showy spikes of reddish flowers on terminals of tall plants with long corn-like leaves. It spreads to form colonies in rich moist soil in sunny or semi-shady areas. Woodlanders originally obtained this Asian native ginger as seed from Coimbra, Portugal.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057879584883,"sku":"HEDY-COCC-01G","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/DETA-892.jpg?v=1720138433"},{"product_id":"hedychium-coccineum-disney","title":"Hedychium coccineum 'Disney'","description":"\u003cp\u003eHedychium coccineum 'Disney' is a hardy ginger lily that brings the tropics to a temperate garden, sending up tall leafy canes each summer and crowning them, from late summer into fall, with bold spikes of fragrant orange flowers. Each bloom throws out long, whiskery stamens for a bottlebrush effect, and the whole spike carries a sweet perfume that drifts on warm evening air. 'Disney' is among the best and most upright selections of the scarlet ginger lily, holding the flower heads proudly above the foliage.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe lush, lance-shaped leaves clothe upright canes to five or seven feet through the growing season, a wall of tropical green that makes a fine backdrop or a bold accent all on its own. The scarlet ginger lily hails from the Himalayas, and that mountain origin is exactly what makes 'Disney' hardier than most gingers, able to weather winters that would finish a tender one. Butterflies and hummingbirds work the orange flowers through the late season.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGrow 'Disney' from spreading rhizomes in full sun to part shade, in rich, moist, well-drained soil, and give plenty of heat and water through the summer for the fullest growth and bloom. In all but the warmest gardens the canes die to the ground with the first hard frost and resprout from the rhizomes in spring, so cut the spent stems down after frost and mulch the roots where winters are cold. Where the plant is happy, the clump widens a little each year.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUse Hedychium coccineum 'Disney' where the size and scent can be enjoyed, at the back of a sunny border, beside a patio or pool, or in a big container, paired with cannas, bananas, and other bold tropicals. The fragrant orange spikes are magnets for butterflies and hummingbirds, and the whole planting reads as pure exotic luxury on a plant tough enough to come back year after year. For a hardy taste of the tropics, few gingers do it better.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Woodlanders","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42057879945331,"sku":"HEDY-COCC-DISN-01G","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0605\/7505\/5987\/files\/Hedychium_Disney_3NC.webp?v=1784309385"}],"url":"https:\/\/woodlanders.net\/collections\/ginger-lily.oembed","provider":"Woodlanders","version":"1.0","type":"link"}