Plant Care of Ginger Lilies
Perfumed flowers rising on tall stems with bold tropical foliage make ginger lily (Hedychium spp.) the flashy cousin to edible gingerroot (Zingiber officinale). Native to the Eastern Himalayas, these plants are hardy in USDA zones 8 through 10. Ginger lilies are dramatic additions to your garden that are easy to grow and propagate. Starting with one small rhizome, ginger lilies multiply to form a flowering clump in beds or containers.
Features and Function
Like gingerroot, ginger lilies grow from rhizomes, underground stems that grow horizontally just under the soil surface. If you break a rhizome, you’ll notice the familiar ginger fragrance, although it's less pungent than the culinary herb. Butterfly ginger lily (H. coronarium) has a fragrance that’s a blend of gardenia (Gardenia spp.) and honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.). Its flowers, which are woven into Hawaiian leis, look like white butterflies perched at the top of plants. Spiky ginger lily (H. coccineum) bears flowers in tall spikes and comes in colors including red, orange, yellow and peach. Ginger lilies are grown primarily for their sweetly fragrant flowers, but they are also prized for their tropical foliage, which forms an attractive backdrop for shorter plants.
Site Selection and Planting
Ginger lilies grow in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 7 through 11, where they perform best in sun to partial shade. In warmer regions, morning sun is good but afternoon sun is too harsh for them and will make their leaves curl. They thrive in moist, acidic soil that is rich in organic matter. Plant Care Today suggests giving these plants plenty of room outdoors as they quickly grow up to 5 feet tall with a spread just as respectable.
In cooler regions, you can grow ginger lilies in containers or dig rhizomes after the first frost and store them indoors for the winter. Since their rhizomes will multiply, use containers with plenty of horizontal room for them to grow.
Culture Ginger Lilies
Ginger lilies are not drought-tolerant plants and must be watered in times of insufficient rainfall. Since they prefer moist soil, you may have to water several times weekly in hot weather. Feed ginger lilies weekly with a balanced fertilizer. Southern Living Magazine recommends that you cut the stalks and fading leaves of these plants back to ground level in the fall. Trimmed ginger lily materials are completely compostable.
If you grow ginger lilies in containers, or your landscaping ginger lilies overgrow their area, you should divide them each year by breaking rhizomes in pieces, with each section containing an “eye,” or growth bud. Since some species grow up to 10 feet tall, with butterfly ginger averaging 5 feet, you may need to stake tall stems so that heavy rains and wind do not buffet plants.
Essential oils of some ginger lily species contain insecticidal properties. This explains why these plants are bothered by few insect pests. Although plants like moist soil and many species tolerate wet substrates, waterlogged sites may exacerbate fungal root-rot diseases in some varieties. Plants flower in late summer through autumn, which leaves them safe from butterfly and moth larvae that pupate earlier in the season. Deer may browse on the sweet flowers and succulent stems.