Barbra,

Heliconia don't like temperatures below 50 for more than a few hours. Of the 4 you purchased, only Rostrata has a chance to survive in the ground. However, since heliconia only bloom on second year growth, most likely you will never see a bloom. Your best bet is to container grow them. That's what I do. Your zone and my zone are almost identical. I'm near the coast in southwest Louisiana. But you will need large containers in the 20 to 30 gallon size.

Steve

Thank you Steve, I will put them in 20 gallon pots. What do you use for soil when you plant them, and how deep should I plant them? I will store them in the garage during the winter. The only light will be from the glass on top of the doors. Will this work? They would be watered every other weekend. Barbra,

Steve I got the rhizomes, I am scared now, I may have made a mistake getting these. I think I will trade a couple of them on the plant exchange, and trade for tropicals that do not get as large, and do not need to be brought in for the winter. Which two do you think I should keep? Barbra,

Of the 4 you acquired, Rostrata is by far the easiest to grow and bloom in a pot. It's one of my favorite heliconia and a real show stopper. I've never grown Kawauchi. I've grown Jacquinii and Rauliniana. Rauliniana is very cold sensitive so that's one you probably should trade. Jacquinii gets large. I grew it for 4 years and never got it large enough to bloom but that was mostly my fault as each winter in the greenhouse, it would get a big infestation of spider mites and I'd have to cut all of the old stalks down to the soil level and start over again in the spring.

Steve

Steve, thank you for the information, I got ahold of the seller, he had not sent out the plants yets, in fact he was just about to dig them up, and send out tomorrow. He will send out lalispalha distans, and rostrata heliconia. I think I would have made a mistake with the others, he was so great, I told him I did not think I could grow them, and he could just send me anything that he thinks would grow in my zone his choice. He said he will also send out gingers. I am so happy you responed, and I had time to change my order. Thank you so much for your help, I am forever greatful. Barbra,

The L. Distans is a very good choice for container growth. I've grown that heliconia for 6 or more years and it is coming into full bloom right now. It is short, compact, and somewhat cool tolerant. Gingers are the ticket. I've got over 60 different gingers and they are very nice and most are completely hardy in our zone.

Steve

I just got my box of plants, it was like Christmas, I cannot believe the size of the plants and the diffrent plants he sent. He sent them in the largest flat rate box packed full of gingers, and heliconia( that will grow in zone 9) I cannot believe he was so great. He let me change my order after Steve posted. I just wanted to share my wonderful experience. I bought my tropical plants on ebay from a seller bwhitesell. His real name is Randy White, I would recommend him to anyone that wanted tropical plants. Barbra,

Hello everybody,

In Zone 9B--the uppermost portion I have had good luk with Rostrata & Rauliniana. However, I found the Raulinia more cold tolerant thatn the rostrata. My rostrata is blooming after looking miserable for a few months after that one light freeze we had. The stalks didn't freeze like the leaves did, so I got flowers. The Rauliniana had a little leaf damage and is growing so tall now--about 7 feet--that I predict blooms before September.

One heliconia you shoudl try is Lingulata yellow fan, or, red-tip fan--they are compact,blooming at 4 feet tall, and don't seem to care much about light freezes as long as they are mulched well.Mine also bloom on the first years stalks and are blooming right now like crazy. Also, Heliconia sharonii--i have one type of this (I heard there are two and one is larger)is a small one growing to two feet tall and never fails to bloom on the same year's growth. It freezes down to the ground but alsways pops right back up it seems. Very dependable. Many helis can also be grown in large pots, just don;t overpot too soon and let them outgro each pot, repotting to the next size up, other wise they tend to rot--probably because of too mcch water in the container being held below the roots.

Pedro Ortiz is also good--if you can wrap the stalks and keep them insulated during the weather below 35, you can get blooms the next year. The plant is pretty cold hardy.

Another trick is to keep the cold sensitive ones potted the first year,protect over winter-- then, the second year plant them in the ground so you can get flowers out of these second year bloomers.

Hope this helps.

Brad

The stalks didn't freeze on my rostrata but they never grew any new leaves on the stalk or start to bloom by mid July, so I just cut them out of the pot. :O I hope I wasn't premature in cutting them out. The others in the pot are over 6ft but none look like they are starting to bloom. I didn't mark which stalks made it through the winter to monitor their progress. I think this plant is a hell of a lot of work. I water mine daily and fertilize every other week. The plant is in a 30 - 34 inch pot. Please give more tips on success.

With heliconia, there seems to be a big difference between Zone 9a and 9b. I've tried numerous cold tolerant heliconia in the ground for 4 years. Namely, Rostrata, Red Angusta, Pedro Ortiz, and Scheideana. I've been growing them in containers for 8 years. None of the aforementioned heliconia have ever bloomed following a winter. All have come back and produced good growth during the summer. And I have some very large stands of these in the ground using Brad's suggestion of growing them in pots for the first winter and then planting them in the ground the following spring. One winter our low was 30; the other winters we had at least one night of 24 to 26. I can reliably bloom all 4 of the above in containers overwintered on my carport but with protection.

Houstonpat, I don't cut my Rostrata stalks after a winter until June even if they look terrible. I've had stalks "wake up" and produce blooms as late as Sept.

Steve

I live in Tamp bay Fl and have all and many more of the named heliconias. They all are in the ground and doing fine. It will take about two years to get flowers and they need the right conditions to flower food water and sunlight. I grow over 42 different kind of heliconias and I'm waiting to see them bloom. Only problem is they all bloom different times of the year and when many bloom in the winter it's too cold here to see them. Instead they just burn from the cold. It's time to build a shelter around my back yard. If you get rhizomes you can place them in a shallow pan of water to help new roots grow. never plant them above the knob on the base of the stalk.

I am searching for help with heliconias and different tropical plants that I can start this spring in a new garden. I have purchased some heliconias (augusta and dwarf strictas) that have bloomed most of the summer and are still in bloom at this time. They are really a beautiful flower and plant with the large leaves. Since then, I purchased 3 banana plants from Greenearth central Florida with all doing fine. The bananas are dwarf red, dwarf Orinoco and ice cream plant.
I live in New Port Richey, Florida which appears to be zone 9b and would like to fine heliconias that will survive in this zone in sizes of up to 3ft and some in the 4-6 foot high.
Since I am new to tropical plants, I would really like to have the experience of others that have gone through this with success for this zone. Can anyone provide some names of plants, sizes they grow and survivor rate in zone 9b as well as some gingers that would do well in this new gargen?
Thanks for the help.