Welcome to Heliconias... Heliconias... Heliconias

This blog is all about growing Heliconias, an exotic plant not native to Malaysia. All pictures shown are digital photos of the actual species in my garden such as Rostrata, Dwarf Jamaican, Latispatha and several psittacorums such as Andromeda, Lady Di, Fuschia, Strawberry & Cream and hybrids such as Golden Torch and Alan Carle.

Heliconia are close relatives of gingers, bananas, birds-of-paradise and traveler’s palms. There are more than 200 (350 including cultivars) documented species of the single genus, with the bulk of them originating from Central and South America such as Guyana, Costa Rica, Berlize, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil. You may be interested to note that about 6 species have evolved separately in the South Pacific and Indonesia, and typically have green inflorescence.The name "heliconia" actually comes from Greek mythology after the great Mount Helicon, the abode of the muses of the arts and sciences.

The beauty of the heliconia lies in the brightly coloured bracts that are mistakenly called the flowers. The actual flower is the tiny little flowers that emerge from the large showy bracts. Each stem can only flower once, after which the entire stem deteriorates, drives up and collapses. As such, it is recommended to cut at the base of 'flowered-out' stems.

BTW, this blog has been read by visitors from Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, France, India, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Netherland, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, United Kingdom & United States of America :-)

16th Sept 2009 : 17:30

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Flowering Heliconias Today

Hooray ! Finally the psittacorum that looked like Lady Di but with Orange stamens instead of yellow stamens ie the psittacorum cultivar known as St Vincent Red decided to flower :-)



psittacorum cv St Vincent Red



psittacorum cv Andromeda


 

psittacorum cv Lady Di


 

Stricta Dwarf Jamaican

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Sunday, April 5, 2009

What I see in my garden today [6th April 2009]
































































Today, I saw a marvelous sight.... a small bird with a long beak sucking the nectar from one of my heliconias i.e Andromeda :-)


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Friday, January 30, 2009

What I see in my garden today [30th January 2009]


















Today is the 5th day of Chinese New Year and this is what I see in my balcony garden today.
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Saturday, January 3, 2009

Watching Flower Growth : Andromeda


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21st December 2008
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