We visited Hardwick Hall* last week, where we bought a cautleya spicata. The plant looked rather striking and we were assured that it could cope with the cold Derbyshire winters as it's a native of the Hymalayas.
Ours doesn't look as fine as this yet, being a single stem. Here's an extract from a fine article by the knowledgable Carol Klein:
The idea of growing gingers in our cold, damp gardens may sound rather far-fetched yet increasingly we hear mention of hedychiums - ginger lilies - in articles on dramatic planting or lists of "architectural plants". Other members of the Zingiberaceae register in our gardening vocabulary, too: shy, orchid-like Roscoea and Cautleya spicata, which is neither as flamboyant nor as graceful as its cousins but whose strange beauty is sure to stop you in your tracks should you come across it in the late-summer garden.
Stout, yard-high stems, wrapped with large lush leaves, terminate in fabulous foot-long spikes of rich amber flowers which are held in maroon calyces and bracts, tucked one behind the other. The best selection, Cautleya spicata 'Robusta', is just that - strong and self-supporting.
Meanwhile, enterprising explorers such as Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones of Crûg Farm Plants are introducing new collections. They list several including their own 'Crûg Canary', which is vigorous, very hardy and, of course, has bright yellow flowers.
Though they spread as far as China most species cautleya are from the Himalayas. We plant them in leafy soil but in its natural habitat it is usually epiphytic, the thick roots from its broad rhizomes clasping the surface of trees and rocks. Bleddyn has seen colonies of them, built one on top of the other like giant bird's nests.
C. cathcartii is a more slender plant than C. spicata, usually with more red to its leaves. It has red calyces and green bracts, and can have as many as 50 flowers on one spike. Established clumps of C. spicata can flower from June until the end of September, but Bleddyn maintains that C. cathcartii can beat that impressive record, continuing into early November. It multiplies well and is just as hardy. Sometimes the plant is mistakenly labelled C. gracilis.
The smaller, daintier C. gracilis is the last of the trio and is mainly found in Vietnam and Thailand. Its hardiness is unknown as it is relatively new in cultivation. The leaves are broader with red margins and it has a maximum of 10 flowers.
Growing tips
Cautleya love comfortable living. They thrive in moist, humus-rich soil and are most at home under trees or between shrubs. Both C. spicata 'Robusta' and C. cathcartii would be happy in a mixed border or herbaceous bed, providing the soil does not dry out. Although they are hardy, plant deeply with at least 10cm (4ins) of soil above the rhizomes.
They are prone to lifting themselves out of the ground as the rhizomes grow on top of one another. Mulch well to counteract this. As a longer-term solution, lift every four to five years, pulling them apart and replanting, discarding any old woody pieces.
How to propagate
The upright seed cases are white, the seeds black. These are easy to germinate and take only a year or so to flower – a quicker and more tempting way to make a lot of plants than growing them from division of the true plant.
Good companions
Though few and far between, summer woodlanders do tend to be classy. Try C. spicata with Deinanthe bifida, a relative of the hydrangeas, and add a plant or two of Kirengeshoma palmata, another Asiatic woodlander with waxy yellow bells. White Anemone x hybrida 'Honorine Jobert' makes a fitting companion for the ginger's later flower spikes, which are also particularly striking against a background of any purple-leaved shrub. Cotinus 'Grace' or Berberis thunbergii f. atropurpurea would both pick up the crimson leaf reverses and the calyces of C. cathcartii.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/3323478/How-to-grow-Cautleya.html
*Hardwick Hall, where we especially enjoyed looking at the herb and vegetable garden.
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hardwick/
