Growing the Aromatic White Ginger Lily,सोनटक्का

White flowers are very pleasing to eyes. They also go well with any type of decor or designs in the balcony.

Scientific Name : Hedychium coronarium

Family : Zingiberaceae

Common Names : White Ginger lily, White Garland lily

Sunlight exposure : Partial Shade,Avoid direct sunlight.

Water Needs : Medium,Can tolerate more.

Bloom Time : Seasonal, August - November.

This white beauty has a very fine fragrance, making it hugely popular among the garden lovers.
This plant is extremely easy to grow and needs no special care except regular watering.
Even if it gets ignored sometimes it will reward you its beautiful fragrant blooms.
But it won't tolerate dry soil for long.So don't miss watering.

Origin:

This white wonder is the national flower of Cuba. In the Philippines, it is called as Camia and is commonly worn by women as garlands.These flower resembles a butterfly.This flower is used in many parts of the world  to manufacture perfumes & scented soaps.

Soil: White ginger lily grows well in any soil type.

Planter: This plant requires deep planter,atleast 24" or 30".It can also grow in medium size planters but a bigger planter will help it grow much bigger and produce more blooms.

Fertilizer: Ginger lily will be more than happy just with regular compost or cow manure.No need to get stressed about fertilizing it with different fancy fertilizers.Simple compost will do the trick.

Water & Sunlight: Ginger lily requires filtered sunlight or partial shade.It hates full or direct sunlight.Give it plenty of water during growing season in summer.Slow down watering during its flowering period in monsoon.

Pests:It is extremely resistant to pests and rarely bothered by pests.

Propogation:The best way to propagate ginger lily is by dividing rhizomes.Although it can also be grown by seeds,rhizomes are best to grow them.

Growing White ginger lily:

• It is easy to grow this beautiful plant, making it a favorite with the gardeners. 

• The plant is grown from rhizomes and can reach a height of up to 1-2 feet.

• It's leaves are about 10 to 15 cms long and 5 to 8 cms wide with pointed tip.

• This plant forms tall erect stalks from thick rhizomes which grow skywards.

• These stalks continue to grow throughout the summer.

• As monsoons start a cone shaped bud will form at the  tip of each stalk.

• Beautiful butterfly shaped flowers(white with pale yellow at centre)will continue to emerge from these cone shaped bud throughout the monsoons till around November.

• The flowers bloom at night and wither by the end of next day.

• You can pluck individual flowers directly from the cone shaped bud(don't cut flowers or cone bud).If you do so you will destroy upcoming blooms.

• Once all flowers have bloomed and cone becomes hollow cut the entire stalk from bottom.

• New stalks will emerge soon and will become ready for bloom in next season.

• Water these plants enough so as to keep the soil always moist.

• These plant is almost pest free.But Sometimes it's attacked by whiteflies but it won't harm the plant or affect the blooms.

Grow this white beauty and it will fill your balcony with amazing fragrance at night.