Herself’s Houston Garden

This is another of many gingers I planted this spring. While it hasn’t yet gotten as large as the other gingers have, it wasted no time in producing flowers. Flowers are tiny on delicate stems that weep down.

Globba gingers usually peak at about 2′ in height. These are slow growing gingers.

Globba gingers want shade, not part shade, but shade.

Keep moist in the summer and dry in the winter.

These go dormant in the winter and reappear late spring.

Propagate by division in the spring.

Wow – not one of my books mentions this plant, all I have are some sparse notes from lectures. I’ll fill this out as I learn more.

I’m new to growing gingers. But I’ve been very happy with the results so far. I planted several different species this spring and they all seem to be doing well.

The curcuma flowers are the most showy of the gingers I have. The leaves of these gingers are wider and are all curcumas have heavily ribbed leaves. Plants can reach up to 4′ tall once established.

Some curcumas flower in the spring, mine are summer bloomers. Leaves appear first, followed by the flowers. They are often referred to as the ‘hidden gingers’. Flowers are white, pink or some combination of both. What we consider the flowers are actually the brachs, or colored leaves around very small, nondescript flowers.

Curcumas will die back to the ground in the fall. Just cut the stems back to ground level, they will come back when the weather warms up.

Curcumas, like most plants, prefer well drained, high humus soil. They do best with regular watering and fertilizing. However, they want to be dry in the winter during the dormant season.

Like most gingers curcumas want part shade at least and can do well in full shade.

Propagate by division in the spring. Gingers can also be grown from seed, but on curcumas only the seeds on the low flowers are fertile. Division is a much easier way to propagate your plants anyhow. It should also be possible to root from stem cuttings. I haven’t tried yet.

Problems:
If soil is not well drained, plants may rot over the winter.
If you are not getting blooms you need either more sun or more fertilizer.
These are often slow to reappear in the spring, try not to panic.

Curcumas are part of the turmeric family. We have records from 200 BC of ginger being cultivated and used in cooking. In the 1970s ginger first became popular among the masses.

I don’t have this book, but a local expert on gingers recommends Hardy Gingers: Including Hedychium, Roscoea, and Zingiber (Royal Horticultural Society Plant Collector Guide) as the best book to get if you want to learn more about gingers.

If you ‘ve given up growing hostas down here or are looking for a hosta replacement, consider these gingers. Kaempheria pulchria grow in shade, remain small and provide wonderful foliage and small purple flowers.

All gingers are safe to eat from flowers to leaves to roots, that doesn’t mean they will all taste good though.

Like hostas they are the very last plant to show up in your garden each spring. Be patient if yours do not reappear. Some will wait till mid June before poking a leaf up, the ground must reach 70′F first. These will go dormant over the winter.

They form rounded clumps as they grown between 6″-12″ in height and 9″-12″ across depending on the variety.

Peacock gingers bloom from June until November here. Each small purple flower blooms for one day to be replaced by a fresh flower the following day.

Plant them in the deep shade and water regularly all summer. They want to be moist. Go easy on the watering in the winter or them might rot.

The designs on the leaves are what draws people to peacock gingers more than the flowers. The leaves are much rounder than any of the other ginger families.

Propagate by dividing the rhizomes.

These gingers also do well in hanging baskets. They do well around the base of trees where it is too shady for other plants. Just remember to keep them moist.

despite the 3 month drought we have a bloom coming July 22 '09

Aug 17th 2009 - a bud but the drought has effected quality

Pine cone ginger is named for its pink-green pine cone shaped flowers . The flowers appear mid to late summer, start out green and turn red. Small cream colored flowers appear on the cones. The flowers come out of the ground on their own stalks separate from the leaves. Blooming time is supposed to be fall so perhaps I’ll have some flower pictures to post here soon.

Foliage is variegated. Variegated varieties reach about 4′ tall, non-variegated about 7′ tall.

This ginger is easy to grow, clumping and propagated by division. Pine cone ginger is fast growing. It prefers moist soil don’t let it go totally dry. It prefers more sun than shade as do most variegated plants.

The milky substance in the flower cones is used in many shampoos. In medieval times ginger root was so loved it was set on the table nightly as we do with salt and pepper today.

This plant dropped about half its leaves when the weather first went under 40′ and the rest of them when we had the frost earlier this month.  It’ll either come back in the spring or it won’t.

This ginger did come back it has about 3 stalks now and I’m still waiting for my first bloom.

See also:Variegated Shell Ginger