Transandina Heliconia
Heliconia aemygdiana var. transandina
Height: 8 feet
Spread: 6 feet
Sunlight:
Hardiness Zone: 10
Description:
A beautiful large accent piece ideal for indoor containers and patios; featuring huge, blue-green oblong leaves that give way to stunning blooms with slender red bracts and yellow flowers; a stunning addition to create a tropical landscape
Ornamental Features
Transandina Heliconia features showy spikes of yellow flowers with red bracts rising above the foliage from late spring to late summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its attractive enormous oval leaves remain light green in color with hints of blue throughout the year.
Landscape Attributes
Transandina Heliconia is an herbaceous evergreen tropical plant with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its wonderfully bold, coarse texture can be very effective in a balanced garden composition.
This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and should not require much pruning, except when necessary, such as to remove dieback. It is a good choice for attracting hummingbirds to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.
Transandina Heliconia is recommended for the following landscape applications;
- Accent
- Mass Planting
- General Garden Use
- Container Planting
Planting & Growing
This plant is native to the tropics and prefers growing in moist environments with evenly warm conditions all year round. In our climate, it is usually grown as an outdoor annual in the garden or in a container. If you want it to survive the winter, it can be brought in to the house and provided with special care, and then returned to the garden the following season. In its preferred tropical habitat, it can grow to be around 8 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 6 feet. However, when grown as an annual or when overwintered indoors, it can be expected to perform differently, and its exact height and spread will depend on many factors; you may wish to consult with our experts as to how it might perform in your specific application and growing conditions.
This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It may require supplemental watering during periods of drought or extended heat. This plant will benefit from a regular feeding with a general-purpose fertilizer with every second or third watering. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is quite intolerant of urban pollution, therefore inner city or urban streetside plantings are best avoided. This species is not originally from North America. It can be propagated by division.
Transandina Heliconia is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden. Be aware that in our climate, this plant may be too tender to survive the winter if left outdoors in a container. Contact our experts for more information on how to protect it over the winter months.
-- THIS IS A TROPICAL PLANT AND SHOULD NOT BE EXPECTED TO SURVIVE THE WINTER OUTDOORS IN OUR CLIMATE --
