McLendons (Lowes like hardware and garden centers here) had Hedychium 'Dr Moy' and 'Elizabeth' this fall. Both are described as excellent varieties. I have them planted and mulched protected.

We have Cannas and want to add some gingers. Suggestions please on the best growing, heaviest flowering, and most fragrant ginger(s) for Seattle area PNW? I am in z8a, but we're a cool summer 8a.

Anyone growing 'CP Raffill' or 'Anne Bishop' here?

To paint a picture and help filter suggestions the design concept is as follows.

I'm currently working to get the backyard area near the pond looking more "tropical". And intriguing vertical accents with fragrance would be great. From the photos below, drama and impact are AOK with me (life is short, why not?).

In this area Canna 'Tropicana' = 'Durban' = 'Phason' did great this summer! As did 'Black Knight' to rear left.

Canna 'Australia' is towards the right of the Canna 'Durban with' more Cardinal Flower and a 8'+ Joe Pye 'Gateway' in a tub on a bog shelf built into the pond I dug last summer.

There's also a compact growing Lotus 'Welcoming Red' in a pond near this. To overwinter it, late last fall the tub shown was suspended 6" below the water surface in a 3' x 5' kidney shaped pond installed next to the 15'x8.5'x3' mother pond.

The lotus tuber was a thin 1/4" x 6" long bareroot stem when I got it last spring on sale from an internet pond store. I felt bag putting the little thing into the mud in the cool spring air with 45F nights and feared it wouldn't survive. It started gowing within 2-3 weeks, to make 12" leaves and rapid succession of flowers within 4 months! This spring I plan to directly plant the lotus in that side pond to expand it.

The dual ponds is a Frog Pond design and to make sure the lotus doesn't take over the fish pond! When I need more frogs tadpoles (eg from egg clusters found in the yard) the plan is to put them into the fishless lotus pond. They eat mosquito larvae there and are kept away from the hungry pond Comet Goldfish and a Shubunkin (learned the hard way).

I'm working to get a resident Leopard Frog population and have a highly vegetated backyard with Japanese Iris and over 50 hydrangea hopefully giving enough adult frog forage habitat. The canna. ginger, and a Gunnera should help with this. Leopard Tadpoles were brought in from eBay (don't recommend Bullfrogs for a WA state).

Behind the pond, as viewed from the house, is planted a 5' Giant Chilean Gunnera with 11x11' grow space. A little smaller than 'Manicata', I hope to have a fighting chance to keep it in bounds. It sits atop an 8x8x4.5' plastic lined "bog pit" with I hope enough mosture support it. The Gunnera are placed here to make a dramatic backdrop to the pond. You can walk between these to see them both better ... and feel "in the scene".

Canna 'Stuttgart' (tall!) and 'Wyoming' are to the left of the baby Gunnera. To the right front of the Gunnera are 3 rocks marking where I'd like to plant a hardy ginger. We have cool summers here and with the slowed growth rate, I should be able to keep it contained by dividing every 2-3 years.

A giant Canna musifolia with reddish leaves is on order to go to the left side of the shed, next to a root barrier lined pit with Phyllostachys aureocaulis 'Spectabilis' (a large golden timber bamboo). And a bright green gold leafed 'Jordan' Full Moon Japanese Maple is now ready to plant near the right front corner of the brown shed. From this viewing point it will be in front of a Giant Hydrangea aspera 'Sargentianum' to the back right of the shed in a less sunny place and the Golden Vivax Bamboo in a 5'x15' three compartment bamboo pit (we have two kinds of Golden Vivax and this is planted as std/inversa/std. The goal here in the backfield is a vibrant backdrop to that pond/canna/ginger full sun area.

We have a lot of beautiful, but non fragrant hydrangea. So the goal of the hardy ginger is for impactful summer tropical fragrance elements!

We also have Witchhazel, Daphne, Mockorange, Honeysuckle, annual White Stock, annual Nicotinia alata, and Brugmansia in the backyard all for staged fragrance. And ~50 hyacinths recently planted along the driveway to house walkway with sun tolerant deciduous hydrangea beds in the front yard that selected to surprize my wife this spring.

This is a new house for us about a year ago with almost no plants! If been busy installing bushes and perennials supported by to my wife's goal of an almost "lawnless" yard. I select mostly taller plants that reduce the need to weed. The deep in ground pit installations although very labor intensive and slow to install drastically increase plant success and reduce summer watering demands.

Our higher clay, very rocky soil requires breaking up with a metal rod before digging out with shovel, screening out excess rock, and mixing compost with soil.

The magic growth element here is compost, We are working on the second 20 cu yd now trucked in from Cedar Grove Compost.