Hedychium coccineum 'Tara' is a virtually hardy Ginger Lily that has annual stems, glaucous-green jungly leaves and large orange flowers at this time of year. (Gosh! I sound like a real expert - ‘glaucous’!)
The photo below was taken this evening in the last rays of the day’s sunshine:
This clump of Ginger Lilies is right next to the pond and is growing next to a Thalia dealbata planted in the pond (this is the best pond plant ever!). Anyway, the stems and leaves are growing through each other so don’t be misled by the photos, some of the leaves are from the Thalia clump. (Thalia is quite a nice word!)
The photo below is of the flowers of Hedychium coccineum 'Tara' reflected in the pond this evening:
Hedychium coccineum 'Tara' is a very easy plant to grow despite it sometimes being described as tender. I find it as tough as old boots! In fact, a couple of years ago I decided to remove the original clump by the pond but only had partial success – I could not remove all of the rhizomes (I guess that’s the word for them) and the clump has formed again. I now have 2 other clumps of them around the garden. When cutting through the rhizomes (like that word) I got an amazing smell of sweet ginger, I’ve wondered if the roots are edible and I’ve read that they are but I’ve not tried them.
Incidentally, I should mention that the stouts stems grow to about 5ft and don’t need any staking. Another clump grows amongst Bananas, Colocasias, Ricinus and other stuff – it looks very tropical!
Finally here’s a photo, taken a couple of days ago of one of the flowering stems:
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