Hedychiums bloom this time of year:
The word "Hedyhium" is Greek for "fragrant snow". Aptly named. Most of them are extremely fragrant, but alas only at night. This one smells like Hyacinths. I grew it from a small start from India for years and years and years, thinking it was something I did not have. Came as Hedychium flavum or something like that. It is plain old H. gardnerianum--an orange form such as I already have. Probably slightly hybridized with H. coccineum, hence the more vivid color. H. gardnerianum is a "weed" in many parts of the world--some of you might have seen it growing feral in Hawaii, where the locals call it "Khahili Ginger".
Hedychiums are members of the Ginger family, Zingiberaceae. I have a bunch of them in my yard. Some of them strangely coldhardy for things that are generally native to the tropics and subtropics. Hedychiums often come from high elevations; prime tea-growing country with cool mild summers and mildly chilly winters.
Uses? Well, one I have in my yard is used in some parts of the world for an aromatic called "Abir", but since I do not smoke, I haven't come up with any use for it. A lot of them (all of them?) have aromatic rhizomes.
The plant in the background of the photo is Tetrapanax. Hard to describe other than a gigantic Araliad from southeastern China. If it weren't already big enough, someone brought a tetraploid form (4 sets of chromosomes) from Japan to Hawaii, and from Hawaii to Oregon. That's this one. The leaves are maybe 2.5 feet across. This particular form seems to be deciduous in the winter which is probably a good thing as they would never stand up to snow. It suckers like crazy and I could give away starts to locals. It's probably hardy down to around 15F/10C or so. Once established it could probably go lower than that coming back from root suckers if the top froze out.
Abutilons are members of Malvaceae--the Mallow Family--from South America. You grow them like Fuchsias except maybe they tolerate a bit warmer weather--you can grow them in parts of the Deep South where it is too hot for Fuchsias. Like Fuchsias they are capable of blooming in the shade. This one is probably a hybrid between A. megapotamicum and A. pictum--they are known generally as "Megapictums". It's a cute plant and I shot the whole plant several times, but the pix came out of focus. My camera seems to have focusing issues in certain circumstances.
Here's another, A. megapotamicum, native to the banks of the Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil (hence the name, "megapotamicum" = "big river" = "rio grande").
Yet another fall-blooming thing that likes shade: Begonias. I have a number of these. This one, Begonia grandis, is a big, easy-to-grow, coldhardy species from China. The Chinese eat the flower buds. I just let it bloom.
I might post more later. I have some harvest pictures from the "working" portion of my yard, which is actually most of it. Potatoes, Kale, tomatoes, and stuff like that.
