| Actually its a lot more complicated than that. You can't compare hedychiums to curcumas because they are 2 entirely different types of ginger. I can't tell you how they will act in MD or NC because I don't grow them there, but here in No Central FL where I live, hedychiums routinely freeze to the ground almost every winter, re-emerge in early March, grow to 6-9 ft by May, start flowering in late May early June and continue to flower until first frost (usually late November/early December). Hedychiums, if they did not freeze due to the natural limitations of our USDA zone 8B, would be EVERGREEN. Curcumas, on the other hand, are NOT evergreen. Even in their natural tropical Asian climates, they are deciduous, and their mechanism of re-emergence is NOT just heat but the rainy season that occurs in the Asian Old World tropics. This rainy season corresponds nicely to the advent of the end of winter and the start of the warm and rainy season in the American Neo Tropics and Sub Tropics (which starts here in No Central FL in late March/April). Curcumas are divided into 2 types: they are either Spring blooming or Fall blooming. WHen yours blooms depends on what type they are. Inodora and Scarlet Fever, for example, are Spring bloomers; Sulee's Rainbow and the variegated Emperor curcuma (petiolata) are Fall bloomers, etc etc. Curcumas don't necessarily depend on cumulative heat to bloom (although they will NOT bloom reliably in climates that are too cold). Hedychiums are more dependent on cumulative heat to bloom. If you are getting a lot of good leaf growth and no blooms, it might be worthwhile to try SUPERPHOSPHATE to get your plants to bloom. Use a high phosphate (high middle number, like 10-50-10) fertilizer weekly after your plants start to grow during your warm season. Less Nitrogen and more Phosphate MAY help you out in the presence of adequate heat and light, to produce LESS new growth and MORE blooms. |
