hi, not sure on your min temps there,as i have only been to benidorm, but would think you are cooler?
most that you list will stand 40, except for jamaica, which will, but not for the duration of your winter.
i have tried it , here in los angeles, and failed 3 times
you say , you know you will have to bring them in for the winter,but unless you have a very high place, it will be difficult, as most of them need to be well over 12 feet to bloom
my fernandezii,bourgiana,champniana, are all over that, and still growing!!
this year will be a challenge,as my bourgiana is in a very windy site, and loses all its leaves to winter storms, and i think ths is why it never flowers, so i am going to try and erect some make shift green house arround it
a lot of these heliconias will survive much colder temps if covered, but will not stand a freeze

Hi Gaza,

The temperature in my areas are lower then in Benidorm, probably some few degrees which make a big difference in winter. The temperatures only goes a couple of night in winter, below 32 º F but some years they can reach during few hours 25º F. I planted some Bird of Paradise Plant (Strelitzia reginae) in the ground three years ago and survived the winters without protection but I need to protect my White bird of paradise (Strelitzia augusta) or their leaves are severed burned by the cold. Maybe this can give you an idea of my area.
Do you think the most hard heliconia like schiedeana, latispatha or any other could survive with a few protection in my area?. I would like to know your experience and your advice, as it is really difficult for me to select four or five more species from the list

Tank you

if the bird of paradise srvived, then i would think latispatha,sheidiana,angusta,spissa and fernandezii would be ok with some protection.
you might want to try tortulosa and nutans too
deilsiana i am trying for the first time, but they say it is from high up[over 6,ooo feet], in the columbian mountains, so this should be real hardy

Barna,
I have had bad luck with Heliconias in Cordoba (Spain), until now. This year I have bought several new heliconias (H. latispatha Bentham cv. Red Yellow Giro, H. latispatha Bentham cv. Distans, H. Bourgeana x Collinsiana "Pedro Ortiz", H.rostrata, H. stricta cv. Dwarf Jamaican for pot). Most of my old Heliconias were totally burnt in winter and they grew,again, the next spring. For this reason they could not bloom. I will see with the new ones. (my absolute minimal temperature in winter, in my protected garden, is 2ºC/34ºF. I have had better luck with some ginger: I suggest you Costus barbatus and most of the Curcumas. Barna, Where have you found your tropical plants in Europe? It was imposible for me.
Fernando_c

Fernando,
I wouldn't have thought you would have burnt foliage on H. latispatha cultivars at temps that stay just above freezing. They are fine for me here in coastal northern California as long as it doesn't freeze, and I usually have more damage from the winter winds than the cold. I'd suggest that you might get extra protection if you grow them under cover of overhead trees, and possibly try covering them with row cover crop fabric/freeze fabric during extra cold weather. I have had the following bloom for me: H. scheideana, H. latispatha. I also have H. matthiaseae and H. bourgaena, but these two have not yet bloomed for me. I am also growing H. aurantiaca, but this one does not seem as vigorous a grower under my conditions, I will give it one more year to see if it does better this summer with a heavy fertilizer regimen. Strelitzia nicholai usually does not freeze or burn foliage in my garden unless the temps drop below zero, and all of the Heliconias I grow do as well as the Strelitzia, except they need more protection from winter winds. I expect that we are abit milder(zone 9b/10a) than either Cordoba or Barcelona here in Berkeley, California, because the bay is less than half a mile away. We generally stay above 35F in winter, with occasional frosts down to 28/29F for a few hours in late December/early January. However, your summer heat probably would compensate with faster regrowth if you can give your plants the benefit of some overhead protection in winter. H. scheideana should probably be the most successful to bloom for both your locations.

Moving the plants into protection may not be all that difficult, I have most of my plants in 15 gallon sized containers, and they generally only get to be about 10 feet tall(with pot) in my situation. Simply moving them under cover of a roof may be enough to protect them in light frosts.

Hola Bahia,
Thank you very much,
You are right about the wind: my Heliconias were burnt mainly for the wind. Plants could not recovers in winter because temperature is low, but some of leaves were ok and new plants grew in the spring and the old plants were completely stop and they did not continue growing: I do not know why.
The area of Cordoba is Zone 9b USDA but I live in the city, where the temperature is several degrees higher. It never drops below 35,6ºF/2ºC in the protected area where I have the Heliconias; but the place is very windy. Besides, I didn´t know the name of my Heliconias. My Heliconias were bought in Canary Island: I suppose they were some sort of strictas but I am not sure.
I bought new ones last spring : H. latispatha, "Pedro Ortiz" and rostrata. I have made a temporal structure for the wind and I will see in the next spring. I will buy several new Heliconias with Barna next spring.
¡Containers of 15 gallon!: They are huge, almost 60 l :-)
Hasta pronto,
Fernando

Barna, Fernando,

I would like to know if your plants survived this artic cold Winter? Did you protect them or did you bring them inside?

I would love to grow some Heliconias here but if they are really difficult to maintain over Winter and to flower, they may not be worth the trouble.

Cheers, Maria

Hola Maria,

This was really a very bad winter for subtropical plants, a long cold period and very low temperatures.
I reach -7ºC (19,5ºF)¡¡a couple of nights and minimum temperatures were below 0ºC for nearly a month.
I brought all my heliconias inside as i did for many of my tropical plants except the ones planted in the ground that i had to protected with straw. All of them were damaged in some degree and some even died. As to my Heliconias they are in pot and I kept them in a heated area, but I lost one probably due to overwatering together with low temperatures. I plan to bring some new Heliconia species and try with them again, but now I am absolutely sure that I will never be able to keep them permanently outside. If the leaves are damaged they will not bloom and of course the main reason for keeping heliconias is to have them in bloom.
As far I know Fernando also had some problems with his heliconias because the low temperatures.
If you plan to keep heliconias i would suggest you to keep them in pots (you can bury it) so you are able to bring them inside if to cold temperatures are coming.

Saludos, Barna

Hola Barna,

Many thanks for the Winter damage update and I am sorry to hear that some of your plants have died. Luckily, my temps reached only -2º but a couple of klms from me, temps dropped to -6ºC.

So if I have to bring them indoors for the Winter, I may as well opt for the easy to grow/best looking Heliconia of your list above. What do you suggest? Is it only H. vellozian that is available in Spain/Europe. Have you ever tried from seed?

Saludos, Maria

Hola Maria,

I do not have experience with all the species I mentioned in my previous list that is the reason I asked to this forum
From the information I have got here and from other sources, I would recommend you a small or middle sized species you can handle. Heliconias tend to grow very fast and you can be in troubles if you will bring them inside during winter.
As to the hardiness, I found different information regarding the same species, but I could say that probably every body agree with H. schiedeana being the hardiest.
I only found an Heliconia source in Spain but you can found several others in the EU that can send plants to you.
I have not experience growing Heliconias from seed, but as far I know they are not easy to sprout and some need several months (or years). I know Fernando has at least one H. latispatha from seed.
They are not expensive, if you can wait for so long just try it (I am to anxious):-)

Saludos,

Here is a link that might be useful: Flora del tropico

Barna,

Many thanks for the link. I assume that you already have purchased from them and been happy with their service and delivery. I will do some more research. As Gaza says that they need to be nearly 2m for blooming and that it is certainly a big plant for moving inside and outside. An alternative would be a sheltered spot in a covered terrace.
Anyway, thanks again for information and best of luck with growing and flowering of your Heliconias this Summer.

Un saludo, Maria

Hola Maria,
Last winter was very cold in Cordoba (Spain) too. Temperatures dropped and a lot of plants suffered and some of them died. I think, in any case, that it was not a normal winter and it has not influence in my choice of plants.

In the protected area where I have the heliconias the temperature dropped to -1ºC/30ºF, with almost no water and with windy protection and the result is the next:
H. "Pedro Ortiz": no damage and it is continuing growing now.
H. rostrata: light damage it is continuing growing now.
H. stricta Dwarf Jamaica: died, at least the aerial part.
H. latispatha cv. Distans from rhizome: died, at least the aerial part
H. latispatha cv. Red-Yellow Gyro: died, at least the aerial part
H. latispatha Distans from seed: no damage and it is continuing growing now.

I hate especially the situation with H. latispatha cv. Distans and Red-Yellow Gyro (from rhizome) because I have tried them two times and always they have died when the temperature were not too low. This year they died before the cold waves arrived when the minimal temperatures were 4ºC/39ºC. Their leaves began to curves and the aerial plant die very fast (the substrate was almost dry)). They have new growth in spring from the rhizome but it need two year to flowerï.
In any case I will try againï.

Hasta luego,
Fernando

Fernando,

I had the L. Distans bloom on new growth last year which surprised me. I am growing it in a 20 gal container. I had a bad spider mite infestation and had to cut all of the stalks down to the soil level. It started blooming in August and bloomed until October. I think the fact this is a smallish heliconia and the large size of the root ball helped get this one to bloom on new growth. Maybe I was just lucky. No se.

Steve

Fernardo,
Thank you for the excellent information.

I think that we were lucky that we had very little rainfall before the artic cold hit us so we had not too much damage.

I think that I will try with rhizomes first from the Spanish supplier that Barna has given me.

Gracias, Maria

Rizom�kat Heliconia que se pueden pedir en Barcelona?

Here is a list of cold hardy 26-28 F.
H. Pendula Hyb. Hot Rio Night
H. orthotricha Imperial
H. caribea x bahai Yelow dancer
H. rostrata Ten Dat
H. champneana Maya Blood.

The following can tolerate cold 30 - 32 F.

I would still protect plants below 40 F degrees to protect leaves. The rhizomes will survive, but have to regrow leaves (some of which will survive short freezing temps), but which will limit flowering.

H. caribaea x bihai Richmond Red
H. bihai Lobster Claw 1 and 2
H psit hyb. Tropic.