Hello Holedigger:

The best place I know of with "proven in SoCal" heliconias, gingers and tropicals is World Wide Exotics. They used to be known as Desert to Jungle in Monticello. This is run by collector Gary Hammer and he has very rare and good material at fair prices. They are off the I-210 in Sylmar...I wish I could remember the street, but they are right off the freeway just south of the 118.

I know you didn't ask about bromeliads, but Rainforest Flora on Hawthorne Blvd in Torrance has a good selection, but some of their material can be pricey if you're not careful.

There used to be a "run-in-the-home" nursery up in Granada Hills call Papaya Tree where the guy sells rare tropical fruit trees out of his home. He has a good selection and has been featured in Sunset. Here's the 411 on them: Papaya Tree Nursery free catalog 12422 El Oro Way, Granada Hills, CA 91344 VOICE: 818-363-3680 FAX: 818-363-3628. He's by appt.

You can also check California Rare Fruit Growers website (link below) for more rare fruit growers.

Another I like (for SE Asia fruits that do well in SoCal) is a Vietnamese nursery called Mimosa. They also have a good selection of mangos, guavas, and other rare fruit.

For the wildest and rarest plants and what as been called LA's best rare plant nursery you can go to xotx-tropico on the corner of Fairfax and Sunset in West Hollywood. It looks very whole in the wall, but Leon is a serious collector who gets all kinds of seeds and finds things that haven't been described. Beware though...he asks premium prices and he can be "gruff" to lookiloos, but if you want that rare plant that no else has, he probably has it.

But the bottom line is that you cannot go wrong with World Wide Exotics if you want hekiconias and gingers. Might want to call ahead though...they grow for the summer and late fall and (with the cold winter we've had), they may be out of stock on many items.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: CFRG

what ones are you looking for?
i have many,and many sources.
e mail me direct
gary

I agree with Spectre's choices. Obviously Aloha Tropicals is in No. County S.D., but they do have a great selection. Many times it is more economical to buy rhizomes out of state (if you can get them shipped) rather than pay some of the exorbitant prices locally.

Which ginger are you looking for? Do you currently have heliconia?

I am new to tropicals. I have no heliconia yet. I have moist ammended clay soil. Heliconia I am after: tall ones for a narrow bed/full sun and behind a hut in part shade. Smaller ones to mix in some borders with canna, ginger and philodendron xanadu for full sun to part shade, and some of any height that will be happy in containers in full sun to part shade.The online nurseries are rather expensive for experimenting ($10-40.00 plus shipping for rhizome if they even ship to CA). I just bought 10 rhizomes on ebay (Heliconia Psittacorum x Spathocircinata 'Guadelupe'for $35.00 incl. shipping).

I really want to find (and support)some good tropical nurseries in Los Angeles/Orange County and I know that GW members know all the little mom and pop nurseries that I can't find using Google. I figure if i find the good heliconia sources they will have other tropicals that i don't even know that I want yet! I would have gone to worldwide exotics last saturday, but the weather bummed me out.

My bedding plants:
ginger- variegated zerumbet, kahili and butterfly.
Cannas- Bengal, cleopatra, yellow king humbert, picasso, futurity red, lucifer and wyoming.
Vines- petrea volubilis, Mascagnia macroptera, stephanotis, barbara karst bougie, a new rangoon creeper and several Clytostoma callistegioides.

I am very shy in the canopy dept.I have a few queen palms, a large podocarpus and an 'ice cream' banana (1st fruit ripening as we speak!)but not much else to help provide shade.

I am open to suggestions. Unfortunately my beds are narrow,2-4'w, and run the perimeter of the yard with a pool/concrete deck in the middle taking up a lot of space. I think i can cheat the beds out a little with containers and some canopy plants.i am meeting with a masonry contractor tomorrow morning to see if we can do something about the "rim border" to make things look more natural and reclaim some planting space from the concrete deck.

Holedigger:

I'd be happy to do a very rough plan and give you some ideas (I've done it before) to make what you have look bigger and lush. I'll put my e-mail in my profile...drop me a line and I could help you get started out.

spectre

Holedigger

I have some extra Heliconia schiediana or impudica.Could save you a trip to worldwide exotics. I live in Huntington Beach.

Just that: looking for heliconia & gingers in Orange Co., CA area.

Worldwide Exotics: 11157 Orcas Ave., Sylmar; (818) 890-1915. The LA Times listed them as being in Lakeview Terrace instead of Sylmar. Does this address look correct?

Lars

I have seen it listed as both. Mapquest calls it sylmar. It is just off the 210 fwy, a few miles north of the the 2 fwy.

I'm looking for H. bourgeana that Gary Hammer of Desert to Jungle sold a few years back. Also any other Heliconias that are successful in California.

I have outdoor grown tropicals including heliconias, gingers, bromeliads, ti plants, etc. Thousands actually. Lots of colorful stuff and harder to find varieties and over 150 species of palm trees and bamboo too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tropical Vibe Nursery