Hi
I tried something similar with rostrata "lobster claw" For me ,it gets too tall and the flowers are so heavy they constantly fall down. Tends to run rather than clump also.
Do you provide some type of support??
In Costa Rica they were growing them on a wire tunnel and the flowers would hang down on the inside Looked fantastic but I don't have enough room.
I believe bihai stays a bit shorter than rostrata so maybe a better choice?? also I get a lot of wind damage even without the hurricanes lol
Yours look great thanks for sharing the pix. Love the Heliconia family.If only I had more room lol
gary

I am doing the same with gingers and cannas.I am training 3 variegated alpinia zerumbet to grow upright(a crude rope tieback). They are nearing 6'in height, planted spring 2004. I planted some new gingers spring 2005, butterfly,kahili and one mystery (forgot what it is) and they are approaching 4' in height. I also planted 5 canna rhizomes 2004, Yellow King Humbert that are over 8' tall, and at least that wide, they need to be thinned out monthly, but have been blooming yearround. I also have Crimson beauty cannas, they are over 6' tall but not as robust as the king humberts and tend to fall over. It might be that they are getting too much shade. I have Tropicanna canna but I don't think it will get as tall as the others. I just bought some Cleopatra canna rhizomes on Ebay. I am also growing 2 strawberry guava (cattleya) That i planted last summer and they will be a 10 foot tall by 10 foot wide hedge by the end of this year. Much prettier than the previous homeowner's Italian Cypress. This is a great way to get privacy and beauty in a narrow border or along a fence line.I would like to grow some heliconia but don't know which to try.

No I do not use any support for them. The H. bihai is thicker stemmed than the H. rostrata and less floppy by nature. My H. rostrata don't seem to run much. The more sun the H. rostrata get the less likely they are to fall but they are less wind resistant. It doesn't hurt though if they have a neighbor like a fence or another tall plant to lean on for a bit. The healthier they are the thicker stemmed they will be too. My neighbors chainlink is behind the patch in the photo and they hide it very well.

My own garden I call the torture garden. I want to see how plants are going to do without a lot of fussing over. It gives me a better idea of what to use for clients. It seems though that they end up doing better with my little to no fertilizer all mulch and no pesticide approach. A fertile soil beats fetilizer hands down. I use chips from tree trimmers alot. That also creates a very vibrant and healthy insect population which some people just cannot abide.

There are tons of heliconia to choose from. I have about 7 variety. I do stay away from the real runners though. Unless they are contained they can be a pain.

ilima

Hi
Thanks for the tips . The hurricanse last year completely flatened my yard and the rostrata are coming up among the new growth of a white bird of paradise.May work out as the bop is holding them up and the flowers look like they're attached to the bop. Will have to wait and see how that works out.
Holedigger
Wish i could have Cannas.They grow beautifully for me but they get leafrollers so bad they always look ratty.
Heliconia are not bothered at all and are quite beautiful but Cannas have much showier flowers IMO,
There is sush a huge choice of heli's to choose from it's hard to make a recommendation. I would decide on the heighth you want and the space ypu want to allot.
As Ilimia pointed out some of them are RUNNERS so plan on that when planting. They make gorgeous pot specimens.
gary

Which ones are runners? I have been looking at them on google for some time, but usually this little bit of information is overlooked in a plants description. Particularly by sellers. Any Big no-nos or rules of thumb would be appreciated. I would like some that would reach 8' for the rear of borders but also some small ones to mix in the front. I am also interested in trying some Hedychiums. Oh yeah, how about some online sources or even southern california nurseries that would have a good selection? Thanks.

Ray
Thanks very much for that list .As holedigger pointed out this info is frequently left out of descriptions.
Ah the ginger family another wonderful group of plants.
Only fault I've found with the Hedychiums is the tendency to get leggy. The peacock gingers are spectacular
but go dormant I find them almost pest free as a bonus.
Though growing them in the ground I find they need a lot
more water than nature will provide.lol No problem in an amended situation such as a pot or raised bed.
gary

Ray,thank you for the info.I saved that list.

When people sell heliconias, they leave it out of descriptions because (given the right conditions) some of the heliconias can be down-right invasive.

Look for keywords like "fast-growing", "excellent container plant", etc. And don't be afraid to ask the seller. If they won't tell you the truth, then go look somewhere else!

Also, many "invasive" heliconias are very beautiful and can be controlled with a sharp shovel or a lawnmower. So don't overlook them. And many (especially the strictas and psittacorums) bloom throughout the year.

-Ray

(given the right conditions) some of the heliconias can be down-right invasive. So True!

In Hawaii we have those conditions. Even when they are contained by concrete walkways or drives or walls, because in all heliconia each stalk dies when it is finished blooming, the real spreaders can start looking ratty very quickly. It is hard to clean each individual stalk in a large bed of psittacorum. The easiest way is to take a hedge trimmer and cut the whole patch to the ground and start fresh. Now you are left with a big pile of rubbish. What to do with that?

They do have their place though the flowers are great. Very limited use of the spreaders or better yet have them in the neighbors yard.

ilima

ilima
The neighbors yard is a good idea lol. That's where I grow the royal poicianna ,peruvian sunflowers and large palms. They rake up the seed pods prune once a week and paid to have the palms proped up after the hurricane.
All I have to do is enjoy them.lol
gary

Aloha,

The red lobster claw heliconias were just cleared out of my front garden and I will undoubtably have to get in there and dig up almost all the roots before the other plants will be anywhere near "safe". The heliconias are lovely plants and they seemed a nice size for the back of a planting area so I put in five or six tubers however they are extremely exhuberant growers and almost choked out all the other plants in two years time. Their tuber-roots were also pushing rocks around and my rock wall isn't strong enough to contain them. It isn't a very strong wall since it is just stacked rocks.

Fortunately, we have a steep slope which needs some sort of ground cover or hedge so the heliconia roots will be relocated to there. They can fight it out with the running bamboo and it will be interesting to see who wins. Maybe we can have a gardener's version of chicken fights - invasive heliconia versus running bamboo. Since traditionally the loser gets made into sandwiches for the next fight, I hope the bamboo loses since that is at least edible, I dunno about the heliconia.

A hui hou,
Cathy