Hedychium aurantiacum ‘Purple Stem’

Description

Hedychium aurantiacum ‘Purple Stem’ is a beautiful form of Hedychium coccineum chosen because of it’s stunning bright orange flowers which are produced in abundance late summer right up until the first frosts. The architectural narrow grey-green foliage looks stunning mixed in with other foliage plants and the thick stems have wonderful hues of purple-red adding further interest –  it should be hardy enough to be planted outside in the milder areas of the UK. I have had good success with Hedychium aurantiacum finding it easy to grow, being both architectural in its growth habit and large spikes of orange flowers.

Once settled, it can reach up to 2 metres high though is usually around a metre in height. Well worth planting outside in the exotic border we recommend mulching well in the autumn with composted farmyard manure to both protect the rhizomes and release nutrients during the following season.

Best planted in fertile moisture retentive soil in a sunny position, due to it’s upright habit looks good when grown amongst other plants allowing the bold foliage to stand out.

It should be noted that we like to sell all our hedychiums in containers, they are rooted plants with at least a seasons growth and will be established enough to produce flowers given good growing conditions the following year if not before. They are slightly more expensive than buying bare rhizomes but we feel this is a better option as most hedychium dislike root disturbance and take a while to recover. You will also be receiving a larger plant.

Depending on the time of year we may cut back foliage to facilitate shipping. This will only be done to late season growth and will not harm the plant in anyway