Tropicals

Got a couple of tropicals last year that's still doing good. The first one is Heliconia Psittacorum. Kinda looks like a cross between a birds of paradise and a canna. Slow to sprout in spring. Really slow, if I hadn't been such a procrastinator, I would have thrown it out, thinking it was dead. Didn't really get going til June.

The other is a Curcuma Ginger. Lush foliage, and gorgeous pale lavender blooms. The color in the pic is not true to the color of the plant. It's much paler. The flower last a long time. It's still slower than many similar plants (cannas) to get going in spring, but not as slow as the Heliconia.

They have both multiplied, and I need to divide and spread them around the yard. Even when not in bloom the 3-4ft tall foliage will be a nice backdrop to shorter plants.

The Heliconia can take more sun than the Ginger. Ginger gets a little sunburned when exposed to afternoon sun.

Despite our almost record breaking hot summer, they have been doing good. A sure sign they are keepers.