PlantFiles: Hardy Ginger Lily
Hedychium 'Dr. Moy'

I have these in a flowerbed dedicated to Hedychium . They are inter planted with Coronarium , Greenii , and Gardinerianum . The variegated foliage makes it stand out against its taller cousins and the peachy flowers are a wonderful color addition to this flowerbed .

I have recently purchased a large container of Hardy Ginger Lillies 'Dr. Moy' (Hedychium) so I can not make a comment about how the plant performs as of yet. I will add additional comments after a few months and add a rating other than neutral. Right now, I can state that 'Dr. Moy' can take excessive heat very well. I haven't planted 'Dr. Moy' in the ground yet and have the container in the shade in my patio area. It has recently reached 102 degrees F in the shade in this spot. The plants only slightly folded their leaves. It was hardly noticeable. My white gingers in a container beside 'Dr. Moy' folded their leaves completely.

'Dr. Moy' is a hybrid of H. flavum and H. coccineum that was bred by the retired botanist Dr. Ying Doon Moy of the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. It is the only variegated Hedychium to date.
Only one of about 200 seedlings Dr. Moy had crossed produced the variegated foliage. Dr. Moy originally named this plant Hedychium 'Robusta' or 'Robusta Variegated Ginger'. The plant was later named after Dr. Moy.

Because of its very large and strong stem (pseudostem), it does not need staking to keep it upright. The flower head is supposed to be very large and slightly fragrant. The blooms are a peachy-orange and have darker centers. The variegation is sometimes very pronounced (as with my plants which have deep green leaves with lots of striping); however, sometimes it is less noticeable having more speckles than stripes. The distance between the leaves on the pseudostems is shorter than with most Hedychiums which makes the leaves of 'Dr. Moy" more dense. Also, the leaves are shorter and broader than other Hedychium types. These characteristics give it a unique appearance.

Ordered from plantdelights.com about five years ago, and it has not disappointed. It is maybe 4-5 feet tall and has thicker/stronger stems than the other hedychiums that I have. It does spread as vigorously as other varieties. This is not a typical weak variegated plant and is vigorous. The flower clusters are quite large and very fragrant. The variegation is not all that pronounced and is mainly thin white lines and speckes but still very attractive. I definitely recommend for a part shade/part sun situation. Can't say how it would do in deep shade.

started as rhizome with a small amount of foliage in the spring.It has grown in a pot all summer and has now flowered with a sweet scented peach colored flower.It has been flowering for 2 weeks and will probably flower for a few more.
It is over 6 ft. tall.