Heliconia Thread

[thyerr01]

Its a mix of different Heliconia. Front, L to R, are H. x 'Mexican Gold', H. latispatha 'Red', (directly behind the trellis) and H. latispatha 'Parakeet' (the tall one). Over the back are H. x 'Siberia Lemon', H. x 'Bleeding Heart', and H. x 'Coral Surprise'.

[Than]

10 hours ago, thyerr01 said:

Its a mix of different Heliconia. Front, L to R, are H. x 'Mexican Gold', H. latispatha 'Red', (directly behind the trellis) and H. latispatha 'Parakeet' (the tall one). Over the back are H. x 'Siberia Lemon', H. x 'Bleeding Heart', and H. x 'Coral Surprise'.

I guess you expect defoliation after this snow? 

I only have schiedeanas in pots. They have never flowered but they grow like crazy. In fact they have totally outgrown their pots and I will plant in the ground this summer. Last winter they lost most leaves but this winter they seem unscathed so far. They are in a protected spot, having seen no less than 5 C / 40 F so far. Tbh I don't care so much about them flowering, it's their lush leaves that do it for me. I want to plant them along the pathway in my garden.

[thyerr01]

I expect the temps were down in the -8/-7 C (~18f) based on the snow cover and readings from nearby stations on wunderground, so they are all going to freeze completely back. We'll see what returns in the spring. It will be an opportunity to gather more hardiness data.

I found mine really took off once they got in the ground, so I recommend planting yours out.

[STEMI]

Hi fellow Heliconia enthusiasts! After reading this entire thread, I made a palmtalk account just to join this conversation on Heliconia hardiness. I am zone 7b/8a in Charlotte, NC. I left several types in the ground over the winter. Specifically, H. rostrata, H. bihia x caribea 'Hot Rio Nights', and several varieties of H. psittacorum. It was an unusually brutal winter compared to the last several years, but I knew the risks. Looking forward to seeing if any pop back up in the early summer. I overwintered some of the same in a heated grow tent for insurance. The biggest problem when doing that, though, is the spider mites. I saw the discussion on the previous page of this thread about avoiding root rot. One thing that has worked great for me is overwintering them in a fabric grow bag. This allows great airflow to the sides of the root mass and helps to reduce significant water accumulation in the bottom of the pot.

My clump once the cold started to set in (rostrata left, 'hot rio nights' right)

These next pictures were taken earlier this month when I started to reacclimate the ones I brought in back to the outdoor conditions. Rostrata

'Hot Rio Nights'

Psittacorum (maybe 'Lady Di'?) Can for scale. This will be their 3rd year!

[thyerr01]

@STEMI Welcome to Palmtalk!

I can provide an update on my Heliconias this winter. We had two freezes this year. The first came with all the snow which took a full 5-6 days to fully melt at my place and wasn't great. We had another freeze in late February in the -3 C (27 F) range which caught me unprepared and cooked a bunch of things that I didn't protect. I lost a really nice Firebush I had been growing in the second one after it survived the first one.

Large raised Heliconia bed:
Heliconia 'Mexican Gold' (5) - all recovered fine.
Heliconia latispatha 'red' (2) - this is a running form, both have recovered strongly. This one is basically a weed and I'm going to need to keep an eye on it. Its already going places I don't want.
Heliconia x 'Siberia Lemon' (2) - one recovered, one died. The one that survived was much larger than the other that got crowded out and shaded. 
Heliconia x 'Coral Surprise' (2) - both have recovered.
Heliconia latispatha 'Parakeet' (3) - didn't return, but when I went to dig them out all of the newer rhzomes at the edge were healthy. The ones in the centre of the clumps had rotted though. Might have recovered in time, but I tossed them. I didn't like the dull colour of the flowers nor the tall form of the plant that prone to wind damage. 
Heliconia 'Bleeding Heart' (3) - none returned, but they were planted fairly late in the year and got shaded by some of the others and as a result were much smaller than everything else. I'm pretty upset that I lost these and I think they are worth trying again if I can find them.

Other Heliconias in ground:
Heliconia latispatha 'Dwarf Orange' (1) - in a mixed bed that gets frost cloth and xmas lights, lost all its leaves but has recovered.
Heliconia acuminata 'Super Chieri' (1) - same protection as above, actually retained some of its leaves and is slowly recovering. This was a much smaller and less established plant though. 

I overwintered my others in pots and put several in the ground this spring, including H. latispatha 'red/yellow' (2), H. subulata??? (2), another two H. acuminata 'Super Chieri', and then H. lingulata 'yellow' and H. champneiana 'maya sunrise' and 'maya gold'. All are doing well and have new growth. I killed several H. hirsuta, these don't want to grow roots for me.

Some takeaways:
I think size makes a big difference in their survivability.
Cutting them back properly so that new growth doesn't get jammed inside the dead stems helps them recover.
My pot culture of Heliconias is bad. Everyone else's photos of pots look great, mine get really rootbound and have comparatively few stems, and only look good when they get in the ground. I want to figure this out this year.