Growing ginger lily in cold climate

Let’s see how we grow and propagate ginger lily (Hedychium) here in Poland, Europe, where temperature can drop in the winter down to  -30C/-22F and in the summer can get up to 36C/97F.
We can grow ginger lily outdoors, but for the winter it has to go indoor, no way it could stay outside for the winter..

This particular ginger lily is growing all year round in the winter garden/conservatory. Maybe the conditions there in winter are milder, because the place is heated, but summers  are baking hot. This is why the leafs on the photos are bit brown on the tips.

This particular ginger lily is growing here since 3 years, was brought from Azores, is blooming at the end of summer.  It takes 5 to 10 years for ginger lily to reach final size, it tolerates the soil from alkaline to slightly acidic, chalky, loamy or sandy, moist, but well drained.
In different description I read she needs sunny or partly shady position, but I do not trust it too much. Exotic plants require lots of light when grown in cold climates, because the natural amount of light here is sparse anyway. Any ray of light is a treasure. 

Why to bother growing this exotic plant here? Satisfaction of growing rare plant? Not only. The heavenly scent of the flowers. Yup….  There is always a price to pay, one needs to make sure if the benefits are worth it. In this case beauty of the flowers and the fragrance is worth all the troubles. 

How to propagate ginger lily? Either from seeds or by dividing rhizomes. As you can see on the photos, we had to take properly serious tools to get her out. It doesn’t look that strong, but rhizomes are strong and they form long lines, cos every next piece is growing after another one, strongly attached to the previous one.

We took out about 30 cm long line of rhizomes, and cut them to get four plants that will grow in the large container. All the best to new ginger lilies in my collection! Thank you Krystyna!

Happy gardening!

Recommended reading The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks

Viburnum plicatum in full bloom after 4 years

Viburnum plicatum 'Cascade' made me happy last year with the first blooms ever. This year which is its 5th year in this garden its covered with flowers...

If you take few minutes and take a closer look at the flowers, they not only flower 'in layers'....

.. but also flowers show off with ruffled, subtle patterns... 

Regretfully, Viburnum plicatum's flowers are not frangrant - which I always love to get as a bonus. This time bonus is the lenght of blooming period - 4 weeks.    

Comfrey darling, comfrey...

Comfrey was brought yesterday by a postmen complaining about his aching knee. Package was pretty big to make comfrey's black roots comfortable while travelling, in this really cozy moss bed. I swapped Hydrangea paniculata Limelight baby to get this lazy looking beasty kid. Why to want it so much? Utopia, darling, idea fix – however you call it.

Comfrey finds his home in my garden because of its great natural fertilizing values. First it is free fertiliser, second it will make my garden more self-sufficient. With the time I am more and more bored with going shopping, so more and more often I do things to follow my utopia idea of being self-sufficient. Let’s say that on a better days, I believe it's possible to certain extend.

While gardening in real organic way, not industry promoted way, I am on my quest to improve soil quality without tiling. Why? Because lazy gardening is better – don’t you think? I prefer to spend more time to read in my garden, than only work, work, work... Don't get me wrong. I do like to work in the garden and it will never be possible to do nothing, but I want to reach balance with the help of Nature and make my garden self-sufficient in nutrients, that are removed while harvesting.
There are scientific proofs, that without tiling and weeding it is possible to get even better crops than while tiling and weeding. Sounds revolutionary? I know.

Lazy gardening doesn’t mean doing completely nothing – it means changing way of thinking, changing way of gardening and focusing on doing only necessary things.

Comfrey is one of my steps to ‘lazy gardening’ – what are yours? Or maybe you fully reject this idea and prefer too much work in the garden? How is it with you?

Recommended further reading Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health: 175 Teas, Tonics, Oils, Salves, Tinctures, and Other Natural Remedies for the Entire Family

Beautiful flowers or common weeds? Cathedral bells

This beautiful flowers belong to cathedral bells (Cobaea scandens) - perennial climber in different continents, annual in Poland. In some countries its beauty is admired and wanted, in other you may find it on the list of common weeds (New Zealand). Pure relativity.

See also The Flower Recipe Book

See also The Flower Recipe Book 

See also The Flower Recipe Book

Yacon in my organic fruits garden

Yacon is known as the fruit tasting similar to apple and watermelon. It is crunchy and sweet - called the apple of earth. Originally yacon comes from Andes in Peru, where it is placed for sale together with other fruits, despite growing fully covered with soil. The sweet watermelon taste is hiding under the soil level in tubers, but not only tubers are very valuable. Tea made of leaves is known as prebiotic and antioxidant.



Yacon belongs to the group of edible plants called New World Crops, which were native to North and South America before 1942 and couldn’t be found anywhere else in the world.


I have received 2 pieces of roots with green/brown growing points in February from Patrick @BifurcatedCarrot (thanks Patrick). I planted them immediately in the pots and kept on the windowsill, because yacon can be planted outside after last frost.


This yacón (Smallanthus sonchifolius syn. Polymnia sonchifolia) after the first frost (in about one month) I will dig out and take it to the cellar. Then we will see whether yacon tastes more like watermelon or rather more like apple. Probably it could be eaten already right now, but it is advised to wait until first frost, when tubers become most tasty.

The greatest thing about yacon is that despite it sweetness it contains types of sugar which are less in calories and also heathy for diabetes.
You can slice it, dry and eat it as snack, make syrup and use it as healthy, low calorie sweetener or even candy.

PS. Bee rocks! Doesn't she resemble David Bowie? Just take one closer look - this orange hair....