Bonnie, it sounds to me like you have butterfly ginger, Hedychium coronarium. (It smells like honeysuckle.) In our part of the world, it can sometime seem almost like a weed, especially when heavily fertilized and with lots of rain, as we've had this year. But it is not invasive the way bamboo is, so you will be able to remove it all from your flower bed. It is indestructable, and I doubt the tubers will be damaged at all by your having cut the green part back.

My asiatic & oriental lilies always need staking after the first year, and never look as good as they did the first year. If your daffodils & daylillies that did not bloom had very lush foliage, the manure may have been too fresh & thus too high in nitrogen (foliage growth) and too low in phosphorus, which contributes to blooms. By next year the manure will have aged & the nitrogen level will be way down. For blooms, you need a fertilizer with a high middle number, i.e., 10-30-10. Nitrogen is the first number, phosphorus is the middle number & potassium is the third. I don't think planting everything deeper is the answer to your problems and would advise against it.

Here are my recommendations: Dig up the ginger and give it away now, so it can grow good roots over the winter in its new home/s. Get some "bulb food" and/or bone meal and apply it around your existing daffodil bulbs now (dig it in a little) to fuel them to bloom next spring. If you plant new daffodil bulbs, put bulb food and/or bone meal in the hole with each bulb. Before you replant your asiatic & oriental lillies, divide them & then put bulb food & bone meal in each hole, and plan to stake them after they come up next spring. Leave the daylillies alone now, but in April, fertilize them well with a "bloom" fertilizer.

You're off to a good start with great choices for your garden, and you just need to tinker around the edges, not do a major overhaul. Good luck!

Allie

Allie, you've been a wealth of info -- for the gingers, especially!! Thanks. I will say, my Asiatics & Orientals (A & O's) have gotten more beautiful and full each year, but just too tall and crowded.

I've got more questions. Since my daylilies are orange with ruffled blooms, I guess they're like wild ones (??) literally taking over and crowded out my Stellas, Acidanthera (which also didn't bloom after first year) and some unknown non-bearded deep purple iris (only couple blooms this year). I guess this was my 5th summer of gardening and I've never moved or divided anything. I think everything is just competing for space.

Regarding the daffys, since I hardly got any foliage and what little I DID get mostly fell over, I don't know if too much nitrogen (and lack of potassium) was the problem. They are out in front and not crowded by anything and have acted this way each season (except the first). I see now that feeding bulbs is important (which I've never done) but wondering if the problem may also be the following::

I planted mixed narcissus exactly 4 years ago, in three places with about 5 bulbs in each spot. They were beautiful the first year (2006) considering how few bulbs I had. But I doubt I did much amending to the surrounding dirt and probably just dug big holes for each group of five. So if surrounding dirt is too compacted, will that prevent bulbs from multiplying and spreading? They never have really flourished. Or do you think it's just time to divide? (as well as feed, of course).

As far as not doing a major overhaul, I think it's too late considering I dug up most all of my A&O's. Plus, before my husband passed away in May, I got him to dig up some of the iris, Stellas & daylilies. This was before A&O's were in full bloom and I realized THEY were going to outshadow what was left behind & je should have had him dig up everything.

Had full intention of moving dug up plants farther front but without his help, they've just been sitting in pots all summer and of course, never bloomed. Not sure if I they will survive the winter in pots or if I should get them back in NOW??? And I have since gotten feedback from post I made about A&OÂs that I need to get them either back in ground or put in pots.

I know you suggested leaving the daylilies alone but here's my problem. I did the #1 mistake they warn you about. Planted everything too close (in my case, with layering back to front, tall to short) So as things multiplied, they moved forward and crowded out whatever was in front of them. So I feel I really need to bring everything out closer to the sidewalk. I have another 3 ft. or so that I can work with.

I've got my hands full. I appreciate your encouragement and will gladly take any more suggestions you might have. Sorry this is so long. I edited it best I could :)

Thanks,
Bonnie

Bonnie, your orange day lilies sound like Tiger Lilies aka "ditch lilies", which are pretty much wild. They are like butterfly ginger in that they will take over if you leave them alone, but you can get rid of them. You probably want to give them away or plant them somewhere besides your main flower garden.

This is the perfect time to replant your garden so that the roots get settled in before next spring. Your garden will do much better next summer if you replant in the ground now. And the fact that most everything is already dug up makes it easy to replant. Divide your big Stella d'Oro daylily clumps into lots of small divisions and replant the divisions. Don't fertilize them now though. Divide the asiatic & oriental lily bulbs and the daffodils & plant with bulb food & bone meal (for strong roots) in each hole. They do need to be in amended soil -- they can't thrive (or grow) in hard compacted soil -- so buy a few bags of manure or top soil at Lowes (bagged manure is aged) & mix it with your hard soil. After you plant everything, water well, then mulch well with pine straw or leaves or whatever mulch you normally use.

I'm very sorry that you lost your husband so recently, & I'm sure everything still feels overwhelming for you. Don't stress about this -- just plant everything. You can rearrange things next spring or fall if you decide you want to. The important thing is to get your plants & bulbs in the ground as soon as possible, so they can start settling in before the ground gets too cold.

Allie

Allie, your last paragraph touched me. Thank you so much for your kind words. He really loved our garden and helped whenever I asked, so that probably has a lot to do with me feeling so overwhelmed. And not to dump on you, but he left so much unfinished business that I'm still not caught up, which is mostly the reason for neglecting it all summer.

This weekend, I'm getting an old guy friend over to help with everything. So that will help.

AND -- you are absolutely right!! It didn't occur to me. Just get stuff in and then I CAN always rearrrange things next Spring.

One last thing - I know Tiger Lilies -- and these ARE identical -- but I thought they were special since they have ruffled blooms. My old neighbor gave them to me. I DO still need to get them out of there (because they did take over) but do you know if they are called something different, by chance?

Thanks again for all your help and encouragement !!
Happy gardening,
Bonnie

Ashef is probably right about the ID of your ginger [white butterfly ginger] if it has a strong aroma like honeysuckle or gardenia . There are two different H. forrestii plants around. The true H. forrestii Diels has a faint pleasant aroma and slightly larger flowers than the misnamed H. forrestii Hort. which has a faint unpleasant aroma. The H. coronarium flowers, while very similar to the others, are larger yet.

hello... I just saw your postings and hope all is well .
I am new here ... and trying to learn all I can from everyone. I love gingers but have never tried growing them.
I have a patio garden now with some soil also in a small area.
I live in California and tropicals love our semi tropical weather here.
Would love to keep in touch and learn from you.
Take care,
Tina

Hi Tina...

Don't have much to say right now. Am sooo busy with life (and not gardening.... :(

But the kind that people told me I have seem to be impossible to kill. I'd send you some tubers, but think al the ones I dug up have dried up now. I had "good ones" saved, but left them sitting out too close to the road and someone 'stole' them. But lo and behold, a few months later I ended up running into the guy who took them and he explained they'd sat so long, he thought they were trash AND that his granny had them and he'd seen mine in my garden and really wanted to grow them. But that I could come by and get some if I wanted. So I may take him up on it.

Welcome,
Bonnie