Heliconia

I am getting to know heliconia pretty well now. At the Palma Sola Botanical Park, I've cleared out a big section of them. Now I'm the proud owner of 6 or 7 of them in the back of the lanai. Unfortunately, the recent winds knocked half of them down, and the transplanting shocked them all. They are all trimmed down to the soil, and we shall see how they regrow! See the section below on their progress.

I do not know exactly which type of Heliconia I have, but my guess is Heliconia psittacorum. or the "sherbert" variety.

Facts and Trivia:
Closely related to banana, bird of paradise, ginger, canna lily.

From Barbados Pocket Guide:

"The actual heliconia flower is fairly insignificant and is hidden inside the bracts. What most people refer to as the 'flower' is actually a group of colourful specialised leaves, called bracts."

Named after Mount Helicon from Greek mythology, home of muses.

Some heliconia are huge!

May not bloom for a couple years.



How are the heliconia growing for me?
11/14/2020: Trimmed all of the heliconia because their leaves were curling up, yellowing. Many were snapped in the heavy winds of Tropical Storm Eta.

11/7/2020: Initial planting by Shonene and Jacob.

References:
Heliconia society.

Heliconia psittacorum.

Barbados Pocket Guide.

How to grow heliconia.