Hedychium Tai Empress Asia laden with small lavender bells

laden with small lavender bells in May and June (NC)

the deer-resistant clump is adorned with dark blue hummingbird feeding flowers

except the green Jack-in-the-pulpit inflorescence (green hood and upright

emerge alongside the flower spikes in early June (NC)

the white wooly leaves push through the ground like mayapples

Hedychium Tai Empress Asia laden with small lavender bellsFrom breeder Doyle Smittle comes this new 5' tall ginger, topped starting in late spring with numerous 6" flower heads of lightly fragrant, salmon pink flowers (RHS 13C), each with a darker orange eye. Moist soils in the summer months produce the best flowering on the hedychiums.