Southwestern Indiana gardener here.....I grow a number of hedychiums in large pots and have been trying to find Assam Orange for some time. I did purchase a yellow densiflorum from Aloha Tropicals this spring and it's done OK, though it is not a robust grower compared to other hedychiums. It was a very small rhizome when I got it and it has about five sprouts almost a foot tall now, but is fairly petite. No blooms yet.

Last year (2009), Plant Delights Nursery carried 'Stephen' and I wish I would have purchased it since they didn't have it this year. Maybe they're building up stock and will have it again. The only mail order source I have found for 'Assam Orange' is Thimble Farms in Canada. They have a minimum order of $75, and also require a phytosanitary certificate, so I'm waiting to see how my yellow one does before I'd use them. They will ship to the U.S. Other sources, as you point out, seem to be Canadian or in the UK.

I did correspond last year, via email, with John Sirkett in the UK (he has a huge collection of hedychiums) and asked him your question as to why they densiflorum isn't available in the U.S. He suggested that densiflorum prefers more maritime climates than most of the U.S.; most of us have hotter summers than densiflorum prefers.

Hope some of that helps....Bob

Thanks Bob. I read in another post of yours that gingers are not hardy for you there? Have you tried Hed. Coronarium or Hed. "Tara"? I have had h. Coronarium in the the ground for about 4 years now and it has been perfectly hardy(with mulch) for me. Tara is also said to be very hardy as well, although I have not planted mine out yet. I plan to test out a bunch of others next winter.

I also have a nice sized clump of Zingiber Mioga that is very hardy and I have a variegated form also, these i think are zone 5?

John

I've neglected trying these for years as well as a few others that do well in the UK. I suspect the higher altitude ones won't thrive but at the very least it would be great to get their genes into hybrids. I'll be importing several clones this and next year. Hopefully some will do well. Also sourcing seed for a project at lsu for tetraploid conversions. I've been experimenting with this myself, but they will be going the in vitro route.

Regardless, there are some very cool new hedychiums around that will be available in the US soon. :).