I haven't seen any heliconia but there were two varieties of Strelitzia offered in this year's Thompson and Morgan seed catalogue - one a "black" bird of paradise, it looked interesting. Just an FYI.

I'd love to have even ONE of those...preferably Heliconia orthotricha 'She'. I'd like to have some in my yard, but I don't dare! I don't need another passion...LOL

highland heliconia Or http://www.heliconiaparadise.com/heliconia_index.htm Here is a link that might be useful: highlandheliconia

Lisa, I think the common name thing is a BIG problem. On second look, the one I bought as "Tropica" does look like the photo that you have of Tropica. But my psitt x spathno "ALan Carle" looks a lot more like "Guyana". I bought a "supposed" H. caribaea "Prince of Darkness" years ago, from what was SUPPOSED to be a reputable nursery... finally got it to bloom size (its 20+ ft tall) and it ends up "probably" being "Criswick" instead.(I already HAD a blooming Criswisk...now I have TWO. I really wouldn't have used additional greenhouse space for the second one, had I known...)ALso, I bought what was labeled as "H. purpurea" several years ago from a very reputable vendor at the Fairchild Gardens...when it bloomed it was the classic caribaea flower, but a weird color like a purplish, not a red...I deduced later that it might be a cultivar called "Burgundy", which, according to Berry and Kress, is another name for "purpurea", however, while it may be another name for the same plant, this isn't exactly the same plant. And it too is very large growing and a real space taker. I may remove it and let the Wagneriana "Rainbow" planted near it have the space. This reminds me of the debate a few years ago over H. schiediana, and whether there were REALLY actually 2 separate cultivars..."plain" H. schiediana, and H. schiediana "Fire and Ice". Many people said that a certain nursery in Louisiana had tacked the name "Fire and Ice" onto regular old schiediana in order to make people think that there was a "new" plant on the market that was actually more cold hardy than the "old" one and therefore sell more. Now, I know that this happens all the time. Take Musella lasioscarpa...when it first came out from tissue culture, it was sold as "Chinese Yellow Banana". Now it has also acquired (here in FL, anyway)the name "Golden Lotus Banana". Who stuck THAT name on it? I think that there are a lot of vendors who perpetuate the name confusion to their benefit. I also think some vendors make up new names for plants to try to sell more. There is a NOTORIOUS aroid seller on eBay who does this. They make up all sorts of named for Colocasias, ALocasias and Xanthosomas to make people think that there is a "new" elephant ear out there to collect. They have even tried to sell regular old Caladiums before as new, rare elephant ears and made up names to go with them. Fortunately, there is a hard core collector on Aroids who stumbled onto this vendor early on, caught on to what they do, and exposed them (at least to the folks on Aroids). But it doesn't stop them. They list and list, and when they get complained about for fraud, their auctions get yanked, but it doesn't phase them. I think that there has ALWAYS been a difference in names between Hawaii and the mainland on heliconias. When I first got Golden Torch in, gee, I guess 1992, I got it from a lady in Hawaii and it was labeled "Parrot". She also sent me Golden Torch Adrian (labeled TORTUGA) and Keanea Red (which a friend of mine grew as St Vincent's Red)