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Malaysian Flora USDA Zone 11
Welcome to our exotic world of everlasting summers and tropical rainforests!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Heliconia chartacea "Sexy Pink" Lady


Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all???

I think Heliconia chartaceae "Sexy Pink" is the most beautiful of all the heliconias I have seen.

The inflorescences are showy and spectacular, in fact very enchanting. It has a hot pink rachis with the waxy bracts fading from frosty pink to pale greenish white at the edges.


Scientific name: Heliconia chartacea "Sexy Pink"
Common name: Pink Flamingo Heliconia
Family: Heliconiaceae
Order: Zingiberale
Origin: Guiana and Brazil

Category: Tropical perennial herb

In its native place, it is often found near human habitation where it can grow to a height o f 7-8 m fall. In cultivation, it can grow to 3 m tall.



Heliconia chartacea blooms the whole year round. The inflorescenes are long and pendulous, facing downwards. The true flowers are green in colour and they contain nectar that attracts birds.

Heliconia chartaceae "Sexy Pink" Lady”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on November 7th, 2010.



"Sexy Pink" is a cultivar selected for garden planting. They look so elegant and graceful.
Notice that leaves have a characteristic shreded look.


The cut flowers can have a vase life as long as 10-14 days. The above is a floral arrangement at the buffet table of the 5-star Putrajaya Shangri-la Hotel. The centre piece has pink anthuriums resting on split leaf philodendrons or Monstera deliciosa (my guess only) leaves at the base. On second thoughts, it also look like the leaves of the sexy pink lady.

All the other pictures are taken at floral festival Floria 2010.
I am so excited to see this lovely Sexy Pink Lady Heliconia growing happily in the garden of Africanaussie in North Queensland, Australia. She has written 4 posts about this heliconia. In her recent post "Making Those Flowers Last", she has a great tip on how to make heliconia cut flowers last longer.  You can also view the small green flowers and seeds there.



This is my entry for Today's Flowers # 118, a meme which opens every Sunday, 2pm GMT. My grateful thanks to Today's Flowers team members; Luiz Santili Jr, Denise in Virginia, Laerte Pupo and Sandy Carlson. To participate and view other gorgeous flowers around the world, click here.

35 comments:

  1. Hi Autumn
    Thanks for yr comments. Regarding the pegaga, the edible ones are round with indentation or shape like pac-man. There is an ornamental pegaga which is inedible that is round like coin. Am looking for pac-man shape pegaga can't seem to find it yet.

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  2. Hi Autumn Belle, that is a lovely shade of pink, and a beautiful post as ever..

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  3. Such a delicate soft pink. I can see where it's name was derived from. Very pretty!

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  4. Sexy and exotic with a pure and clean pink pastel look. Just beautiful

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  5. Thank you autumnbelle for referring to my blog in your post. Gosh those arrangements are lovely with the anthiriums included.

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  6. It's nice how they used it for centerpiece

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  7. Lovely pink heliconia. It hasn't made its appearance in this part of the world. The flower arrangements are beautiful.

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  8. It is so pretty and that fourth photo with the flowers below...beautiful.

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  9. I really like it in pastel pink too AB. The floral arrangement just looks spectacular with them towering above the anthuriums and monstera leaves.

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  10. I did not realize that the dark red one and the sexy pink is actually different. I took it for granted there are the same.

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  11. I haven't seen this shade before. The red ones are common here. That pink is very beautiful and the floral arrangements are out of this world. I like the anthuriums too.

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  12. The pastel colour makes this pink heliconia look delicate n sexy compared to the more common ones Heliconia Pendula n Heliconia Rostrate (lobster-claw) which have bright red/orangey colour.Anyway, I love all of them cos they look so exotic esp with a huge floral arrangement like that which accentuate the unique flowers.

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  13. Ahh!! So those are called "sexy pink" flowers. I've seen flowers like these, they're used mostly in the hotels.. They surely are lovely.

    I love the colors.. pastel pink. It's nice. =)

    Here's my entry. Hope you can visit.
    http://neneleah30.blogspot.com/2010/11/hibiscus.html

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  14. Sexy pink not the same as shocking pink? haha. Nice flowers..tQ

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  15. Lindas essas flores! Interessantes e diferentes!

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  16. We used to have the red ones with yellow tips in the house but the dogs kept nibbling the stalks! The pink ones are truly special!

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  17. Autumn...dear


    I löove autumn season....

    and your blog also...
    tehse flowers are different....I remember I saw many of them at Amazon Forest in Barzil, last year
    great
    http://graceolsson.com/blog/2010/11/zanzibar-think-twice/

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  18. i love the delicate pink shade. i have only seen red and orange around here.

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  19. This Sexy Pink is not very common. I wonder why most people grow the red one.

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  20. We have a lot of them here too. Yes they are sexy. Have you seen the pink one but hirsute, it is beautiful also.

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  21. I didn't know they are called sexy lady! so gorgeous.

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  22. It has such a lovely shade... soft and delicate, like the baby pink! The center piece is absolutely mesmerizing, A.Belle!

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  23. What an interesting name! Lovely plant. Graceful and proud looking!

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  24. I like the Pink Flamingo name better than Sexy Pink.
    Its pink is too pale to be hot and sexy. The first photo made me think of a flamingo too.

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  25. Nice post. I never see such beautiful flowers and they looks so big.

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  26. It certainly is spectacular in pink as well as being gentle.

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  27. Lovely pic Belle with the description. We have the Red n Yellow Helliconia's growing in our yard, adding much colour n cheer, right at the entrance with Red Ixora's on the other side.

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  28. Autumn such lovely photos. I feel warm all over just looking at them. Here everything is covered in hoar frost and it is minus 3 C, not really cold yet....

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  29. really pretty. I love the color. Do you like the look of the cut leaves in the arrangement? I'm not sure what to think. On one hand, it's really different - a very creative trick and really shows off the blooms. On the other hand, it's really...unnatural...almost sad to see the tops of the leaves cut off.

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  30. Hi, everyone. Thank you very much for your nice comments and valuable opinions.

    I have only seen this sexy pink heliconia as cut flowers and floral shows in Malaysia. I too have not seen anyone growing it in the garden yet, not even at resorts, spas and public gardens or Genting Highlands. Since they can grow it in Florida, surely we can grown it here too?

    Wendy, regarding the cut look on the leaves on the buffet table decor, most likely it is not cut by people. Notice in the 4th picture that the leaves of this sexy pink heliconia are naturally and easily cut/shredded by the wind. There is also another plant, a philodendron called the Monstera deliciosa whose leaves are naturally split like this. Here I am not sure which one they are using.

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  31. I've been hunting for this heliconia for years now. It is so pretty isn't it? I saw it in Singapore growing at one of the orchid gardens there so I'm sure it will definitely grow well for you too.

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  32. I bought about 8 small plants in a plastic pot from a nursery in Thomson Road here in Singapore for S$45. Can wait for them to grow and start flowering...

    DC

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  33. Recently, I saw this flower at a friend's house (flower arrangement), and oh my God, the flower is absolutely stunning in real! :)

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