Gingers...

I have been prompted to post an article on Gingers after the National Collection holder from Sussex visited the garden recently. Various Hedychium spp. are still performing well in the early autumn and I have chosen two to illustrate here. There hasn’t been much heat to speak of this summer but this orange/yellow H greenii below is looking great at the moment. It is one of the spp. that does appreciate the extra warmth from the west facing brickwork in the walled garden to flower well. It’s not much use in the shade of the woodland under all the trees.

The other image below is of a relatively new sp called Hedychium viridibracteatum from karst limestone in NE Vietnam. It has a distinctive spidery, white flower which gives off a lovely delicate fragrance. This is a welcome addition in the greenhouse flowering so late in the season. It was collected by Crug Farm from relatively low elevation so will stay inside until we can divide the clump and try outside in due course.