Queen lily is a tropical rhizomatous perennial from Malaysia that brings exotic drama to warm gardens with its stunning summer flower spikes. Native to the ginger family, this heat-loving plant grows 1, 3 feet tall and produces large, long-stalked leaves alongside distinctive 5, 6 inch flower spikes crowned in vibrant yellow blooms surrounded by violet upper bracts and pale to dark green lower bracts. Hardy in zones 8, 10, it thrives in partial shade with consistent moisture and high humidity, offering gardeners a sophisticated ornamental that feels both tropical and manageable in temperate climates.
Partial Shade
Moderate
8-10
36in H x 18in W
—
High
Hover over chart points for details
Yellow flower spikes tipped with striking violet bracts emerge in mid to late summer, creating an otherworldly presence in the garden. The large, architectural leaves alone justify growing this plant, even before the blooms arrive. It handles the heat and humidity that challenge other shade lovers, making it especially valuable in hot summers where many ornamentals fade. Growing from a rhizome also means you can dig and store it over winter in cooler zones, treating it as an annual in zones colder than 8.
Queen lily is grown purely as an ornamental flower, prized for its dramatic summer displays in partial shade gardens and containers. Its architectural leaves and exotic flower spikes make it a focal point in tropical or contemporary garden designs.
No timeline data available yet for this variety.
Plant rhizomes outdoors in spring after the last frost date. Choose a location with partial shade, organically rich soil, and good drainage. Space rhizomes 12, 18 inches apart.
Enter your ZIP code to see a personalized growing calendar for this plant.
“Queen lily is native to Malaysia, where it evolved in tropical forests as part of the diverse Curcuma genus within the ginger family. It shares distant kinship with Curcuma longa, the turmeric plant whose rhizomes are dried and powdered as curry's essential ingredient, but queen lily was selected and cultivated for its ornamental brilliance rather than culinary value. The journey of this plant to Western gardens reflects the broader history of tropical plant collecting and the global exchange of ornamentals that accelerated in the 19th and 20th centuries.”