Getting a Mariposa Lily to Bloom

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Stories abound regarding the “white butterfly” (mariposa is Spanish for butterfly) of Cuba – Hedychium coronarium.

Although native to Asia, it thrives in Cuba and produces fragrant, white, butterfly-like flowers. During the long war for liberation from Spain in the 1800s, Cuban women hid messages for soldiers in the large leaves of this ginger relative. For that reason, as well as the purity of its white flowers which represented peace, it was chosen to be the Cuban National Flower in 1936. Hedychium coronarium is reportedly hardy to zone 9, but it can be grown in coastal B.C. I contacted Egan Davis, who is a gardener at VanDusen Botanical Garden for his experiences growing this species. Egan reports having “pretty good success growing Hedychium coronarium and leaving it out in the garden for the winter.” Although the ideal treatment for this plant is to grow it in a heated greenhouse to hasten its progress in summer, Egan has experimented with this perennial in sunny beds near VanDusen’s parking lot. ” I planted Hedychium coronarium and never mulched them or did anything to protect them.

They have survived both of the last two winters. Some are growing in the roots of the oaks and some are growing straight in the black compost/mulch that the city makes. They all have grown like weeds. Egan notes that garden-grown plants bloom much later than those started in a greenhouse. “Since we typically don’t have very warm Junes, my experience with Hedychium species in general is that if they are left in the ground, they don’t really start to move until July. Then they just pound out of the ground like rockets once it warms up.

If they are planted out from the greenhouse, they will have already grown a bit and will be a little further ahead. This may make up the difference in getting them to flower early enough in the season. I know that when I have inter-planted H. gardenerianum plants from the greenhouse with plants over wintered outside in the garden, the greenhouse plants have flowered much earlier (September as opposed to mid-November).” Egan’s observations of Hedychium coronarium planted in shadier parts of VanDusen Garden parallel those of Douglas Justice, Associate Director of the UBC Botanical Garden.

Egan says “Squirrels nibble new shoots in shadier parts of the garden. I think that the plants are weak to begin with though because they are in too much shade and they don’t get the heat they need to be vigorous. You know how weak, non vigorous plants seem to always get picked on by slugs and I guess maybe squirrels too?!” Egan sums up his recommendations: “Pick a warm spot with good drainage, and a thick mulch over the winter would certainly help. Having said that, I would never count on any Hedychium over-intering in the garden with 100% certainty.maybe 85%… A bit hardier than Hedychium coronarium are Hedychium spicatum, a ginger lily from the Himalayas that produces small white flowers, and the handsome, though not white-flowered, Hedychium gardnerianum, which grows well in coastal gardens and produces fragrant, yellow flowers.

Even a bit hardier is H. densiflorum, with its tighter flower spikes of orange or yellow. All of these are herbaceous perennials that reach three to six feet high on the coast, depending on the species. In warmer climates they can get much larger.