SAY HELLO TO HELICONIAS

Tired of the same ol' cannas or dahlias in your summer garden scheme? It's time to get acquainted with heliconias

- VICTOR LAZZARI

I have often said that as a regional gardening community, South Florida is the Jan Brady of the USA-that is, a neglected middle child who rarely gets any attention.

At a glance, this reputation is perhaps understandable. South Florida has a brutal climate that vacillates between tropical savannah and tropical rainforest, and it is also completely devoid of winter chill (and by proxy, the dormancy that accompanies it). And probably none of this comes to mind when you think of fine gardening in America. Yet fine gardening does exist down here; come visit our Fairchild, Vizcaya or Edison Ford botanical gardens for proof.

And now, owing to climate change and the overall warming of our planet, South Florida is gaining more and more horticultural relevance for the rest of America. In plain parlance, if you're searching for plants that can beat the heat with ease, you need look no further than the South Florida garden.

Which brings us to the heliconias, a group of herbaceous tropical perennials that are as common down here as rhododendrons in Oregon or peonies in Minnesota. And just like those temperateclimate staples, they will festoon your garden with lovely flowers as well as handsome foliage-but with the bonus of being able to take the most brutal heat and humidity with ease.

The upright, paddleshaped leaves at the center of this lush South Florida border belong to Heliconia bihai 'Jacquinii'.

MEET THE HELICONIAS