Musa

About Musa

Significantly smaller than the likes of the edible bananas, these musas nevertheless are of great ornamental value. Being small has its advantages as these dwarf musas prove, as they take up niches in the typically small urban garden.

The dwarf musas are diploid plants, which means unlike most of their larger commercial counterparts, can produce viable seed. Planting the black seeds is also another way of increasing stock of the plants.

Most of the dwarf musas have upward blooms, meaning that the flowering stalk is held way above the foliage for all to see, unlike the usual pendulous stalks of the typical edible banana. This provides a great deal of interest with beacons of pink, bronze and red in the garden.

Care

Soil: Regular garden soil or burnt earth would suffice for cultivation. Nevertheless, regularly plough the surface to ensure good aeration.

Containers: Either in the ground or appropriately sized pots. They also enjoy being planted in large tubs.

Watering: Once or twice daily, but not in the hot sun as this will result in scorch marks on their tender foliage.

Light: 50% shade to full sun. Too much shade would result in weak and spindly stems though.

Fertilizers: Musas are greedy feeders. Feed monthly with organic fertilizers such as chicken or goat dung.

Propagation: By dividing the clump or by growing the seeds.

Products

1. Pink Ornamental Banana Musa ornata

This lush beauty produces fuchsia blooms. A garden staple.

2. Red Ornamental or Okinawa Banana  Musa coccinea

A very sought after plant for its scarlet blooms. Used to be called Musa uranoscopus in cultivation.

3. Sumatran or Burgundy Banana  Musa sumatrana “Zebrina”

A dramatic banana with blotched leaves and deep burgundy undersides. Produces a pendulous inflorescence with a dark purple heart. Essentially exotic.

4. White Ornamental Banana Musa ornata “Nivea”

An extremely rare pure white cultivated form of the Pink Ornamental Banana. Only rhizomes are available and upon request. Limited in supply, but a true beauty nevertheless.

Gingers

About Gingers

These plants are essentially the heliconias of Asia, possessing beautifully scented stems, rhizomes and flowers. These plants are used in cooking and as natural remedies.

None withstanding, they make wonderful garden subjects. Many are plants native to this region that would have been lost to development if not brought under cultivation.

The range of gingers we provide is not large, but we make up for the lack of selection with two extremely rare and valuable plants which are truly exclusive, namely the Zingiber citrinum and Zingiber malysianum. The spiral ginger, Costus Stenophyllus, is also note worthy. These are truly plants that would spice up your life!

Care

Soil: Regular garden soil or burnt earth would suffice for cultivation. Nevertheless, regularly plough the surface to ensure good aeration.

Containers: Either in the ground or appropriately sized pots. They look particularly ornate when planted en masse in a large dragon urn.

Watering: Once or twice daily, but not in the hot sun as this will result in scorch marks on their tender foliage.

Light: 50% shade to full sun. Too much shade would result in weak and spindly stems though.

Fertilizers: Gingers are greedy feeders. Feed monthly with organic fertilizers such as chicken or goat dung. It is to note, however, that gingers are touchy with chemical fertilizers and may react adversely with undesirable consequences. Organic is best.

Propagation: By dividing the clump. The fragrant rhizomes can also be cut into segments for planting.

Products

1. Pink Torch Ginger Etlingera elatior

Large flowers from a big and showy plant. A must have. Flowers also used in local cuisine for a sourish taste. Definitely pretty in pink…

2. Red Torch Ginger Etlingera elatior

The red cultivated variety of the pink torch ginger. Leaves have underlying burgundy tones. Really exotic.

3. Spiral Ginger Costus Stenophyllus

An architectural marvel of Mother Nature, this plant grows upwards in slender spiraling stems, with contrasting banding. It also produces yellow flowers from red bracts. Surely a conversation piece.

4.White Butterfly Ginger Hedychium coronarium

A lovely intoxicatingly fragrant ginger

5. Orange Costus Costus curvibracteatus

This orange flowered ginger is widely used for Balinese landscapes. A beautiful plant indeed, especially when presented en masse.

6. Cigar Plant Calathea lutea

An exemplary foliage plant that is cuurently in vogue with landscapers. Beautiful large leaves with a silver sheen. This plant worships the sun!

6. Citrus Ginger Zingiber citrinum HOT HOT HOT

Truly amazing, this 1’ tall plant produces sulphur yellow flowers that age to a lovely fuchsia. Extremely rare in cultivation, we have a very, very limited supply of this ginger. The plants we have currently are mature and flowering! A great deal for the ginger enthusiast.

7. Malaysian Ginger Zingiber malaysianum HOT HOT HOT

These plants is so rare that we have less than 5 pots of these beauties. A dark purple-burgundy, the leaves are really intensely coloured, with a shocking orange flower produced at the end. The contrast from such a small plant is unbelievable. A shade lover that comes from the sultry and humid under story of the jungles of Malaysia, this plant is not, to date, introduced to cultivation. Definitely a must have!

Heliconias

About Heliconias

The divas of South America, heliconias play an integral role in dramatic tropical landscape. From the lofty Heliconia mariae to the liliputian Heliconia humilis “Jamaican Dwarf”, landscape gurus revolve entire gardens around them. They are undoubtedly the stars, immaculately adorned with their bright red and yellow flowers that scream for attention amid their luxuriant foliage year round. It is also the same large blooms that turn heads in the cut flower industry, of which their have huge bearing.

Their cult following can also be attributed to their spectacular flower bracts that may be loud and brazen, to being as subly tinted as a watercolour.

In the wild, their flowers are pollinated by none other than their equivalent in terms of splendor-the hummingbirds. Their range is unbelievable, from the lowlands scaling all the way up to the cloud forests. Most of them grow below 1200 fweet, but still others move all the way up till 6000. They grow by rivers or even in areas with seasonal drought as they demonstrate their adaptability to such diverse conditions.

Their ease of cultivation makes them worthwhile additions to any garden, especially those of the Balinese type, of which they add zest to the desired flavour. No one can actually go wrong with these favourite garden subjects in terms of cultivation and visual impact while they take centre stage and run the show. So why not give heliconias a try?