Anyone has extra butterfly ginger to give away?
Comments (6)
steiconi
6 years agoRelated Discussions
When to give up on butterflies? Question of scale and location
Comments (14)I could probably have a lot more success in butterfly gardening if I devoted my whole yard to it. I have so many diverse interests, it's extremely difficult for me to choose between them, lol! Herbs are great because they do double or triple duty--butterfly food, pretty flowers, edible or drinkable products from them. I'm always looking for plants that have multiple good qualities. Originally I wanted to do edible landscaping, but I have found that the squirrels are quite a formidable obstacle. Not only do they tear up my tomatoes, etc, but they drag them around the neighborhood and leave the remains on my neighbors porches and lawns. My edibles are relegated to a few closely guarded pots by the back door. Just yesterday I caught a squirrel eyeing my cherry toms! Anyway, initially due to my experience at other sites, I thought the buddleia would be an easy thing to draw in the butterflies, but you can't draw in something that just isn't there. I had a large butterfly garden at one arboretum where I worked, we had all kinds of supposed butterfly plants in the garden and inevitably they would be ignored in favor of the buddleia. But that place was loaded with wildflower meadows, woods, etc. That's what originally gave me the idea of planting buddleia in my yard, I thought it would be an easy way to watch butterflies and only necessitate one plant's worth of space devoted to it. Other than the butterfly qualities it has, I am not a fan of the plant, up here it is invasive as my neighbor is proving. Although the fact that her above ground pool is a weedy mess in this urban situation I doubt is threatening critical habitat. We had all kinds of natives in the butterfly garden I mentioned above, and we were dilligent about removing the buddleia flowers before they set seed. But like I said, inevitably the natives would be ignored. It could be in that situation the buddleia was like candy, the cats had plenty of other sources of nectar, and most importantly, they were there in the first place because of all the larval habitat. Yesterday I was out on the front porch and I saw a monarch flying along the street. Perhaps I shall plant some milkweed. I like the plant, it does look kind of cool and smells heavanly. They have a good selection of varieties at the native plant nursery I frequent. I'm not that crazy about the orange variety, but I like swamp milkweed's flowers. On a serious note, if one was to design a butterfly garden for an urban site, it would probably be best to figure out what butterflies one could even remotely expect to foster in an urban situation, and then plant larval foods for those species. Frankly I could care less what those cabbage butterflies like, they seem to be quite able to fend for themselves without my help, :) Swallowtails might be easier to please, I like the plants in the umbelliferea family (dill and the like) I already have two plants in that family in my yard, dill and bishop's weed (although I hate the bishop's weed). I love fennel so that would be easy enough to stick in a pot. I've already mentioned monarchs. Not sure what else. There is a lot of grass and common weeds around there but I don't seem to see meadow or woods loving species. A meadow-type garden is not feasible for me due to the space competition. No room for willows, (love the corkscrew variety but I love my other shrubs and trees more) but I have wanted to try lupines. Even if they don't draw in the butterflies. Hard to grow in this zone though....See MoreGive Away: sept 23 trade
Comments (27)Unfortunately, the Gaura roots rotted, so I'm crossing this off the list. Nightnurse -- I have you down for an Aster 'Puff', Anemone 'Honorine Joubert', and Eryngium 'Sapphire Blue'. Ruth -- You can have a Deutzia and a couple P.Ternata seedlings. I can offer you a couple 4" E. 'Sapphire blue', the gallons are gone, and I'll bring extra sedums including a couple I didn't list. Jeno--Yes, take them! (except the gaura; it's is no good)....See MoreButterfly Ginger
Comments (15)I wouldn't consider this invasive - but it does require management. My clump grew from a tiny start to 4' square in about a season. I am maintaining my clump at about 3' square, and doing so requires shovel pruning about 3 times a year. It is vigorous and can spread sideways a foot or two easily each season. But it isn't hard to pull out the parts I don't want, and it is such a pretty plant that this is an acceptable level of care for me. But if you treat it as a plant and forget - then yeah, you could get a jungle pretty quickly=)...See MoreRoses to give away in Brooklyn
Comments (11)Thanks rosesinny, Braveheart and Awakening are planted and I'm crossing my fingers that they will do well!! Thanks also for the nice conversation about roses with my husband & me - we really appreciated it. I think he's much more interested in roses now that he's met you! :) It was really nice of you. Thanks again....See More
garyz8bpnw
6 years agoYour hardines Zone? It is critical to know in looking into marginally hardy tropicals. Many garden ginger sources can be found online. Search for "Hedychium" or "Hardy Ginger". Plant Delights or Logees are well established quality sources. Some sources are more affordable than others.
You are likely in a colder climate than many hardy gingers will bloom well in. They might grow okay down to z7 to 8, but not flower in time outside. We have a lot of gardeners out here and Boeing, Microsoft, Amazon, etc salaries to invest in gardens. So many tried different Hedychiums with limited floral success. Many types grow well but fail to flower in time.
Unless we use a greenhouse, forget the white butterfly gingers or any plant that wants a zone above (y)ours. White butterfly gingers survives z9 i think. To enjoy it in a garden move to FL or HI ... which likely sounds really really good about now with (y)our weather forecasts!
I am in z8a. Gardeners here report the best repeat success with Hedychium 'Tara' (see photo and 'CP Raffill might have a similar result) or H. densiflorum e.g. 'Assam Gold'..
In contrast H. densiflora 'Stephen' likes perhaps more heat than I have.
In my recent searching H. 'Daniel Weeks' looks like a must try here. And 'Elizabeth' has a chance, 'Dr Moy' a must have for many is going to be very iffy, unless global warming helps us (we were listed as z7a when I checked 25 yr ago, we now are 8b ... might be grom zonr lines redrawn, but I wonder?)
Most growers here mulch Hedychium to help them more reliably survive winters. I've even read to grow them in fern beds so thst the fronds drip water away and reduce the chance of rotting. To me that says mulching with branches to drip away and adequate soil drainage.
When researching, UK sites help us cool weather folks for ideas and HI, FL, CA, SC sites often mislead us PNW folks. England has a climate more like ours.
I'm told to select plants that want to bloom in early to mid July. If sales ads indicate August or September, they typically don't bloom in time up north. The leaves look great ... but you mentioned Fragrance.
H. coccineum looks and grow great here but are not fragrant. Their hybrids can be. H.'Tara' a likely hybrid is perhaps the best large flowered cool climate flowering ginger yet. It has some fragrance too.
Suggestion: use a Brugmansia in a tub for summer tropical fragrance (see photo of our B 'Little Angel -- compact bush, same huge flower and night fragrance). Take cuttings or bring the tub out of harms way in the winter.
Grow Canna for tropical visual impact (see photo C. Tropicanna = Durban = Phason).
Annual White Stock and Nicotinia alata (see photo) are sure ways to get long season fragrance into the plan ... and white color for "moonlight garden" effects too.
AND let's share northern climate Hedychium results from our tests to secure mutual success in the future!
I have Hedychium 'Elizabeth' and 'Dr Moy' in testing now. They are mulched and I hope surviving 22 F night temps over the last week or two.
garyz8bpnw
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agogaryz8bpnw
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agogaryz8bpnw
6 years agolast modified: 6 years ago
first yard