Heliconia
The Heliconia
There is something spectacular about Heliconia, they can produce large wonderful long lasting displays of flowers and their varied leaf patterns really give the garden a resort atmosphere. To do well they need space, unlike the ginger , most like full sun and a good water supply, but once established they are really tough and hard to kill.
Heliconia Rostrata can be locally found and produces waves of pendant flowers. The picture below is of one plant in my back garden that is truly impressive, I stopped counting when I reached 75 pendant flowers. This Heliconia grows to about 3 meters tall in some instances, but generally is less than that. The weight of the pendant flowers may mean some support is required. The plant does seem to get leggy and the stems fold over, but overall it is hard to fault this plant. Not to be forgotten that each stem only flowers once, so when there is a massive display like shown below, then there is a long time when it looks ugly. I have a few of this variety in my garden and and this one got really messy, I removed it in 2019.
I have a cultivator called "Ten Day" which is having it first flowering, seems to be more delicate, slightly smaller flower bracts, which will make it easier to use in flower displays in the house. Other than that, can hardly see any other any differences in appearance
Heliconia Psittacorum Golden Torch grow like weeds. They get to about 2 meters tall and will take as much space as it can get as it is a runner, it is always looking for more space and constantly flowering. It needs a bit of maintenance to thin it out after flowering as it gets dense and to keep it confined to the area where you want it requires digging up the roots. Ants really like this plant and one can get bitten a lot if not careful. Looks good as cut flower, but does not last too long in the vase, usually 3 or 4 days before looking untidy.
Heliconia Psittacorum x Spathocircinata Keanae Red. Essentially this plant has the same characteristics of the plant above, but with an attractive variation in colour, making it stand out. I planted this with "american dwarf" in front of it, which was a mistake and then removed it as it was not a good plant or colour combination, plus it confirmed that I prefer single variation groupings. This plant goes through stages where I see no blue fruit, then numerous fruit appear.
As I have got more and more variations of Heliconia, I have had to become more aware of the parts of the flower (inflorescence) parts to appreciate and explain the differences.
Heliconia Psittacorum x Spathocircinata Guyana. Good Looking flower and like the orange bract with the greened tipped sepal's makes it particularly attractive. The plant flowers have 5 to 8 spiral bracts, becoming more than 40cm long. It looks very similar to Golden Torch, but has took more than a year to become established in the spot given to it. It is supposed to be a good cut flower, but have yet to see if this is correct.
Unknown orange Psittacorum , probably "American Dwarf" that is a short and grows up to a height of about 0.5 to 1 meters tall depending on the soil conditions. It is also a runner, but a lot slower than the Golden Torch.
The plants need to push up their stems through the grass and not sure if this slows them down, but it does make it tidier as there is less of an opportunity for weeds to grow. Not good as a cut flower, but that is OK, as it is great in the garden.
I like knowing the botanical names of plants as their growth characteristic can be better researched. This is Heliconia Psittacorum St Vincent Red, a small plant producing upright flowers. The plant grows to about 1 - 1.5 meters tall , with the red bract standing out when there are many flowers together. I started with one plant, but it is quite a vigorous grower.
This plant is "runner" and will take as much space as it is provided, which is good as red bracts stand out.
Heliconia Psittacorum Deep Red, from what I can tell its so similar to St Vincent Red , that it might as well be the same plant. The only differences that can I see is "Deep Red" sepals have more slightly prominent green streaks on the sepal tips, plus deeper orange tint overall including the ovary/pedicel and this is shown in the picture, where it is the middle sepal.
Heliconia Psittacorum Sassy is another small upright flowering plant that grows between 1 – 1.5 meters tall. The combination of colours makes it extremely attractive, better in real life than the picture indicates. I have found that the flower bracts as it ages can become quite redish and for the untrained eye land begins to looks like St Vincent Red. However the sepals have a dark band just below the pale tips
Heliconia Acuminata Ruby has a very beautiful flower, its greenish yellow sepals stand out against the unique coloured bracts. This plant is a clumper or very slow runner which is my only disappointment in that it has taken a long time to multiply.
Heliconia Psittacorum Lady Di Variegated is another short growing runner, it produces small upright flowers. The variegated patterns and slightly different green colour compared to the grass makes it particularly attractive and hope it spreads out from its present location quickly.
I put these plant into a lawn area so that they have to push up through the grass, which might impact their growth as it is not very vigorous. Note how the sepals are uniform in colour with no colouration on the tips.
I get a few plants that have half a leaf completely creamy white or and entire leaf, but every now and then I get a completely albino plant. I would normally expect the albino leaves to get burnt by the sun, however this is not happening, so I have separated the completely albino plant to see if it produces albino offshoots, however every attempt to maintain an albino offshoot separately has failed. My guess is the albino plants survive because of the connected root system allows them to obtain food from other plants that are capable of photosynthesis.
This plant flowers all year round and I am often impressed by its beauty.
Heliconia Psittacourm "Peru White New" ; the white bracts and subtle yellow sepals make this another particularly attractive flower. In the morning sun, the flowers are bright white and long lasting. It will grow to about 1.5 meters tall and is a runner.
I had no trouble getting these plants to flower in their pots before moving them to a better location. It is another runner.
This plant is a slow runner and goes through a barren period with absolutely no flowers.
Heliconia Latispatha Red Yellow Gyro is a short growing plant that is about a meter tall. The flowers are quite large also this plant tends to hold its flowers erect above the leaves so that they are easily seen. This plant is a slow determined runner that will find a way through boarders established to contain it. This plant also goes through a barren period with absolutely no flowers, which is ok as the foliage is an attractive green.
Heliconia Longiflora, has a striking orange flower and unusually for Heliconia is a terminal flowering type like a Zingiber (ginger). The flower is also very similar to a ginger called Burbidgea Scheizocheila 'Golden Brush' , but fortunately it is a much faster grower. It seems to be happy to grow in a container, where it will stay until I can find a suitable moist / semi shaded area in the garden to put it. Expected height will be about 1 meter. Now planted in my corner of the garden next to my Saba plants that I will remove to make more space.
Ants seem to like the flowers, so with a bit of luck I might get some seeds as that is probably the only way it will be pollinated.
Heliconia Metallica 'Dwarf Purple' , doesn't have the greatest of flowers, but the foliage makes up for that, with the metallic maroon undersides and dark green top side, that is spit in half by a whitish midrib. This plant is a slowly growing clumper and expect it to get to 1 - 1.5 meters tall.
The plant holds it leaves quite erect and when the sun is out and strong, then the leaves curl showing the maroon undersides. The older leaves loose some of their attractiveness, but I do not remove them until they look really untidy.
This tiny plant is supposedly called "Heliconia Marginata x Psittacorum 'nickeriensis' Opal", but I cannot find any reference to it by that name that has the same characteristics as these plant seems to be a stunted cultivator. This plant is a slow grower and it only gets to about 40 or 50 cm, its even smaller than Heliconia stricta 'Jamaica Dwarf'. In the picture it is about 20cm tall with my garden secateurs next to it for reference. It flowered in May 2020 after about 1.5 - 2 years. Because of its size I kept it in a pot for a long time, but believe that it was not good for the plant and it seems more healthy in its current location and has attained a maximum height of about 50cm.
On the 18 August 2018 I collected some Heliconia Marginata 'Lutea' seeds and thought I would have a go at germinating this yellow pendant Heliconia. I was pleasantly surprised that most of the seeds germinated. I let the seeds soak over night in some water and then strip off the blue skinned pulp, before planting them. The seeds germinated at odd intervals, some after a month or so, others within a couple of weeks. The plants are now a meter tall and surprisingly after 20 months the first flower was presented in 2020. This type of heliconia is really hardy, it takes over an dominates the 3 locations where I had put it, so much so that I removed it from two areas as it was spreading fast. The plant gets to about 2 meters in height.
This Heliconia Bihai ‘Giant Lobster Claw’, with a large upright flower was taken from a plant grown from seed, it took a couple of years for it to produce flowers, with the one on the right, one being one of the first produced. The upright varieties I find are not as attractive as the flowers get they hidden in the foliage of the plant and the bracts full with water, that becomes smelly, which is not nice when it gets on you. So rather pleased that I have 2 clumps of this grown at the back of the property rather than the front.
The plant is a vigorous tall grower, reaching a height of 3.5 - 4.5 meters. Like a lot of the large growing Heliconia's it is a clumper rather than runner. It is a good cut flower, the problem is that these flowers are heavy and one really needs a big solid vase with substantial weight at the bottom of the vase so that the vase does not fall over.
Not a great picture of this flower. Heliconia Pendula x Bihai 'Hot Rio Nites' another clumper the exhibits vigorous growth. This is a tall plant that is understood to be able to reach 5.5 meters tall, with is erect deep green shiny leaves, it stands out.
The plant stands straight so that the flowers can be more easily seen. I have two plants, one plant had to be moved because it was in a poor location, but recovered very fast. This variety will flower continuously.
Heliconia Bourgaeana x Collinsiana "pedro ortiz" Hot Pink has been planted for a couple of years now. I expect it will get between 2 - 3 meters tall and bloom with flowers that twist out to the sides in an odd fashion such that the blooms will neither predictably point up or down. The plant is getting to the size where I expect it will flower.
Alpinia Nieuwenhuizii is planted in front of it, it too has yet to bloom and immediately behind it is Costus Green Mountain [hybrid], this mixed flower bed is typical as I try to maximize plant density, the downside to this approach is the plant growth of the weaker or slower growth plants can be impacted as they each try to dominate their locations.
Heliconia Bourgaeana x Collinsiana "pedro ortiz" Hot Pink flowers on the left in June 2020 presented a flower with bright red bracts and golden sepals. The combination of colours and the way it twists as it opens at head height makes it quite stunning. Surprisingly quite a lot of blue fruit were produced, as there are no native Heliconia pollinators here in the Philippines, it is probably ants that are responsible.
Heliconia chartacea 'Sexy Pink'
This heliconia has proofed to be a challenge to grow and took sevearl attempts before I was successfull in finding a spot where it was successfull.
Heliconia Indica Spectabilis is a small clumping plant that is understood to produce upright flowers. I have seen some varieties that are quite red, but as I have a lot of red already in the garden, I prefer this plants bronze leaves with burgundy red undersides. Young leaves have red veins and deeper red undersides and they mellow out with age becoming bronze.
It will grow to a height of 1 - 1.5 meters tall and based on my 4 plant groups, it prefers a damp shaded area with morning sun rather than full sun. Out of all the Heliconia, this variety is the only one that gets fungal infection called "Rust" that can make the plant look a bit untidy. When and if it flowers, then I will add a picture, I am a bit surprised I haven't seen any flowers already, but either they are very small and I have missed the event or the plant needs to mature more or it is not a Heliconia at all.
Heliconia Chartacea x Platystachys 'Temptress' produces pendant flowers. This clumping plant will grow somewhere between 3 -5 meters tall. The leaves become shredded in a consistent fashion such that this adds rather than detracts from the plant.
It vigorously flowers, hence put it in position where it can be seen easily. The lower and inner leaves are removed so that the grass growth is not impacted and the plants behind get a bit more light. I also remove a leaf or two off each flowering stem to reduce the weight on the stem, to avoid breakages due to heavy rainfall.
Heliconia Longissima is another plant that has been grown from seed and put in it current spot when it was only 15 cm tall. Its canes are now as thick as a persons arm and makes the canes of the Heliconia Chartacea x Platystachys 'Temptress' look delicate by comparison. Longissima is a clumper with long hard banana shaped leaves with waxy silver undersides and is expected to reach a height of 5.5 meters.
Each leaf has has a thick stout stem and stand upright, the plant already seems to be taller than 5.5 meters. This plant does require quite a bit of space, and produces very long pendant flowers that take many weeks to slowly open. I have only seen the blue seeds a couple of times and have planted them and can confirm that they are fertile.
The picture below is of a short flower so you can see the general structure, the plant will eventually produce them 3 times longer than this, which I estimate will be about 1.5 - 2 meters long, which will make for good photo opportunities when people visit the garden. I have not tried it as a cut flower as do not have a vase that is tall or stable to hold the weight.
Heliconia Bihai x Marginata Rauliniana, produces flowers that emerge erect then they twist and slowly turn into pendants. This plant is a clumper and stands straight and does not require support. You could put it near a porch and it would not droop over an invade your space; whereas Rostrata would. The plant will reach a height of 3 - 4.5 meters tall. The picture on the right show the flowers as they twist down to become pendant.
The flowers can point in all directions at once, which makes the flower arrangement unpredictable. I have noticed on another plant of the same type that is in the shade that the flowers seem to remain more erect. There is a dormant period, then it produces a lot of flowers at once. As a cut flower is lasts 3 or 4 days and requires a very heavy vase or it will tip over.
Heliconia Mariae 'Beef Steak' suffered for a long time before it produce its first prehistoric looking flower. It took a couple of years to get to put on some size, and it is now getting close to reaching its maximum height of 6 meters.
I put it in a semi shaded spot and not sure if that was wise, but it needs some space and now producing flowers. Not a very attractive plant, but when it matures the flowers become larger and quite unusual. Surprisingly even the first flower produced blue seeds that I found were easy to germinate and if conditions are suitable the seeds will even try to germinate within the flower as shown in one of the pictures.
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