Gardening – Alluring heliconia

In mid-winter it’s always nice to dream of the tropics, and for a touch of tropical colour and elegance in my garden, I love my heliconia. They are a marginal plant in our climate, and the number of species that reliably grow and flower here can be counted on one hand.

Heliconia schiedeana is probably the hardiest and most vigorous heliconia available here, growing up to three metres high. It flowers reliably and prolifically with bright red and yellow bird of paradise type spikes from a few weeks before Christmas. These last for months in the garden, or a week or two as a cut flower inside. The flower stems can be more than 1.5 metres high, big enough for the most spectacular arrangements. I currently have a good photo of this species and a video of how to prune and propagate them on my Facebook page, Paradise at the Point.

Heliconia subulata is only slightly less hardy than the previous species, with the stems growing to about 1.8 metres high and more widespread than the previous species. It also has magnificent, long-lasting flowers of bright red and yellow, but flowering from October to March. It is not as free-flowering as H. schiedeana, partly due to cold weather causing more flowers to abort, although the flower spike is better balanced in my opinion.

Both heliconia are suitable for any frost-free position in either dappled shade or full sun. They make a superb hedge or subtropical border and are spectacular around pools and ponds.

A bit less hardy and vigorous than those two is the unusual Heliconia spissa; the leaves on this species are already split from emergence, giving a herringbone shape to the leaves on stems about 1.5 metres high. It has soft pink and yellow flowers on long stems from November to March, but it is not as free-flowering as the others. Being less vigorous, it also suits smaller gardens and pots, whereas the other two will outgrow their pots quite quickly.

Heliconia ‘Red Twist’ (a selection of the species H. tortuosa) has dramatic, long-lasting flowers of vibrant orange-red on stems up to 1.8 metres high that appear from March to April among big, glossy leaves. It is quite tender, so unless it is in a very sunny warm spot or inside, flowering will only occur in the warmest of summers. This species forms a clump quickly, expanding every year by about 20-30cm in diameter.

The final one of this group is Heliconia ‘Red Christmas’ (a selection of H. angusta). This is a relatively small growing heliconia reaching about 1.5 metres high with dark green sword-shaped leaves. Flowering occurs in winter (the Northern Hemisphere Christmas, hence the name) and continues into spring, with long lasting, spectacular flowers of red bracts and white flowers. It is the best one of this group for cutting as they last so long.

This variety forms a tight clump with stems arising quite close to each other, making this a good pot plant. To ensure flowering, this should be grown indoors, or in a warm greenhouse or conservatory, although with good cover in a warm garden it can flower there, too. Best grown in light dappled shade as the leaves burn in full sun. Like all heliconia, they like free draining soil with plenty of organic matter and regular feeding and watering over summer.