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brit5467

Ginger Lily - Hedychium forrestii

brit5467
14 years ago

Not sure if this is correct forum for this plant (correct me if not). Was given a few of these, planted them behind my Asiatic & Oriental lilies as a backdrop for when lilies died. Looked fantastic the first couple years.

But then they took over almost like bamboo (I did not divide  bad move, I know). The more mature ones got over 5 ft. tall with stalks over 1" in diameter. My garden is in front of my front porch and it looks totally out of control. You canÂt even see the porch. People started commenting on my "jungle" and my "greenery" (not the complimentary comments I'd been getting years prior regarding my beautiful FLOWER garden).

I went in and thinned them out, cutting down most of them. I know I should have dug them up, but didn't have the strength. The rhizomes are HUGE and heaved out of the ground. Need to find someone to help.

So, first question  will the green ones I cut down that still had blooms or buds on them still produce next year if I dig up the rhizomes and give them away? Several people want them but I donÂt want to give away "duds."

Second question  am wondering if this massive growth and SIZE is typical after only a couple years of maturity (both gingers and Asiatics) or is it due to the manure my husband put down in Spring? Or is it because I never did any dividing?

Everything got so crowded, too tall and fell over reaching the sun (East / Southeastern exposure for most of day) and in doing so, covered up all my lower plantings. Existing Daffodils, Day Lilies, Stella d'Oros hardly bloomed this year. And bulbs planted this Spring didn't even grow.

Would this be from lack of sun and/or from roots from the larger plants taking over? I guess one of my mistakes was not anticipating the space I'd need once they all started multiplying.

Any suggestions as to how to keep everything under control (both gingers & lilies) and/or how to plan my garden better for next year?

I'm at the point I feel I need to dig up everything and start all over and plant everything deeper. I already just dug up my Asiatic and other lilies (have another post today, regarding digging them up too soon  part of the reason was so I could get to these ginger monsters).

Thanks,

Bonnie

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