I'd put them in the ground... up here in Sacramento, gingers can't take afternoon sun... So, during the heat of the day, I'd give it shade and loads of water. I don't grow heliconias, so I can't say.

I get coastal influence in my area but even so my gingers/heleconia burn if left in the full sun. My gingers and heleconia bloom with morning sun and/or filtered sun. They need bright light. Yours may do okay in the sun, depending on just how close you are to the ocean but I would suggest filtered sun or morning sun.

I'm less than half a mile from the beach, which is reasonably different from, say, Culver City, 4 miles from the beach. I know heliconias do well in Culver City.

My front yard faces north, and I have heliconia there right next to the house, so it does not get much, if any, direct sun. I have a couple of ginger at the edge of the yard, far enough away from the house to get almost full sun, and they are doing okay - not burning or anything. Another ginger is beside the neighbor's wall, and so it is in partial shade (some morning sun) and is not growing as well, probably because it is in a corner.

I have {{gwi:547752}} in the back yard (southern exposure) with full sun, and it is doing the best of all the gingers. I thought it might be a canna, but it makes new plants on piggyback of the old flowers.

I'm thinking now that I should keep the new plants in pots for a while so that I can tell where best to put them. They're only about 10-12" tall right now. I'm pretty sure the heliconia will need less sun than the ginger - most of the ginger I've seen growing in this neighborhood has been in full sun, but I haven't seen much heliconia, except in Culver City, and I can't remember where it was.

Thanks for the tips!

Lars

Lars, that's just not fair! :o) sounds like a perfect tropical growing place.... I'm so GREEN with jealousy! :o)

My roommate used to grow orchids outside here, and he had about 80 of them. He actually lives in Sacramento now! He had orchids hanging off of almost all the eaves of the house and then would bring them inside when they bloomed. I don't have time for orchids, but I would like the heliconias and gingers to do well.

I've done web search and gotten very conflicting information about sun exposure for the heliconia and ginger. Some said they both needed full sun, and some said the ginger needed partial shade, and so I'm really confused. My instinct telle me that the gingers will need a lot of light, based on what I've seen in the neighborhood, but I'm still not sure about the heliconia. It appears that different types of heliconias have different needs.

Lars

Well, that's the problem with tropicals... due to where they grow naturally, and the humidity in the air, some can get full sun... here, no humidity to diffuse the UV, they need less. That doesn't include people on the coast... who HAVE the humidity.
I've had arguments with tropical growers before... I no longer listen... :o) My sun is different from their sun, and they just have never been here to tell.
Stop with the making me jealous! JEEEZ! :D

I am 6 miles from the coast and don't get the benefit of the marine layer to keep my plants cool in summer. My experience with Kahili, Alpinia zerumbet, and Hedychium coronarium tells me that they like full sun, but will burn. The more shade they get the more they tend to flop over (gingers in a shady sw corner fall over completely). The same holds true for my cannas. The ones that do best for me get full sun with some afternoon shade (east facing against back fence).A GW'er in Belmont Shores tells me she had rigged up a mister above her gingers to add humidity and had excellent results, with quick lush growth.

I have several gingers here in northwest Carlsbad, with a strong coastal influence, no frost. They are in large pots for the moment, in bright filtered shade, and full sun in the morning, and I've never had a problem with sun burn. The white butterfly does well, but the Kahili is the most robust, and spectacular when it blooms. =^,,^=

I have Hedychium coronarium in the front yard in two spots, and the ones that get more sun are doing better, while the ones in the corner do appear to flop over more. I think I'll put the gingers in a fairly sunny spot, although with coastal influence, I can never be sure of full sun in the morning. Today, however, is quite sunny in the morning. I'll make a point to mist the gingers as well. I've seen Kahili blooming here (along the canals), and that's what made me want it. It looked like it was pretty much in full sun.

I'm still unsure about the heliconia.

Lars

I have not had anything burn too badly in full sun. If they get real bad i just whack them down and more shoot up. The floppers bum me out though. I will be moving them to a new sunnier spot in the fall. I have some 8" heliconia rhizomes in small pots, in full sun, that are leafing out and are browning at the tips. I am ready to put them in some larger containers, but I don't know where just yet. I would love to know if they flop in shade?

The heliconia "Dwarf Jamaican", I've always read that it requires shade. Some other heliconias require shade too, some require sun. The gingers, I've also read, require part shade, although I've heard they can do full sun too.

I'm growing Heliconia schiedeana straight inland about 6 miles, but on a hill where we get lots of coastal influence, and the one that's doing best is in the most shade (not full, but filtered). It's in a corner of the yard where the ground doesn't dry out too fast, either. The heliconia that's in sunnier areas has paler, less healthy looking leaves.

The gingers (A. zerumbet variegata, H. coronarium & gardnerianum, costus) can handle less shade, but still not full sun. And IME, they only flop when they have to lean way out to be able to get to the light.

I've had to keep my new ginger and heliconia pretty much in the shade, but I found some large kahili ginger that I planted next to my red ginger by the pond, which is in full sun. It was in filtered light at the nursery, and so some of the leaves burned, but I think it will be okay by next year. Normally, it is cloudy here in June by the beach, but this year was unusually sunny. I'm going to plant the new ones in a more protected area, especially the heliconia, but the gingers I've had up to now do best with more sun. I actually used a tomato plant cage to keep some of my ginger from flopping.

Lars

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:547755}}

My lackadaisical housekeeping paid off in an odd way lately. A chunk of "fresh" ginger from the grocery store several months ago, left to its own ends on my kitchen counter, has sprouted! A lovely, green exotic-looking point--about 3 inches long--is coming straight out of a round reddish-white nub on one side of the root. What kind is it? it sounds like I should pot it....If so, what kind of soil should I use & how should I feed it?

Thanks!

suzanne.

Even in Venice Beach the Alpinia purpurata is not winter hardy, and won't even like the typical night time temps in summer. This one is a true ultra tropical that only blooms in California if greenhouse grown. Near the beach, as you are, I would think that Hedychium gardnerianum is likely to do very well in full sun as long as it gets good year round water, especially in hot spells. The viviperous Ginger you have is probably Hedychium greenei, which is orange red in bloom and does create new offsets from the old flower stalks, and is not fragrant. I don't know what that particular Heliconia species will want in your location, as it is a species that isn't hardy enough to grow here in the SF Bay Area. I have seen this growing in full sun in the tropics, so I think it would do okay with full morning sun or dappled sun. It will want your warmest most protected conditions to get through winter, and may need to be grown as a container plant and given protection in winter to get it to actually bloom. The more heat you can give it in the growing season, the more likely you are to see it bloom.

Does anyone know where I can get my hands/buy Red Ginger plants (Alpinia purpurata) in the OC/So. California area

-Thanks :)