Hedychium 'Pradhan'

Hedychium 'Pradhan' is an old cultivar developed by the Sikkimese Chandra Nursery with an intense apricot-salmon colour on the throat and filaments. It also crops up in literature as Hedychium 'Pradhanii'. It appears to be a selected form of Hedychium spicatum, a very variable species. I am not convinced it is a hybrid. The images I have seen of forms of a ginger that circulate in the USA under this name appear to be much paler with a softer colour on the throat and filaments.

Pradhan means chieftan. It was a title bestowed on Taksari Chandrabir Newar whose two sons, Ratna Bahadur and Durga Shamsher established the Chandra Nursery in Rhenock, East Sikkim in 1910. The nursery was in its heyday in the 1930's but after the death of Ratna in the 1940's it was divided into the Chandra Nursery and the Woodland Nursery but both nurseries fell into neglect and are today overgrown.

Ideally planted in a warm sheltered aspect facing south in a sunny but slightly-shaded position, Hedychium 'Pradhan' likes a rich, fertile, moist soil with good drainage and heavy liquid feeding during the growing season. It shares the same growth habits and hardiness as Hedychium spicatum, the type species. The flowers are fragrant and appear early in the season.

We have limited quantities of this rarely available cultivar.