White Butterfly Ginger

Hedychium

They come in many different forms, but my favorite type is the plain old white version. It’s extremely fragrant. If you’ve ever appreciated the smell of a gardenia, Butterfly ginger is at least that fragrant if not more. It will fill up a whole room.

These bloom in the summer and late fall until the first frost. White butterfly ginger is fairly hardy for our area. If you mulch it, it comes back just fine. It doesn’t like sun, so you need to provide it a shady spot, like under a live oak. It also wants a little extra water. The foliage, 4-6′ tall, is a wonderful vertical texture to the shade garden.

There are other types of butterfly ginger that have coral or orange blooms that are very beautiful but not as fragrant as the white.