Texas Gardening: Do I want to be black and blue?, 1 by kenboy

kenboy wrote:
Yes I a, 8a and most of my Brugs and Gingers are in the ground and I lost lots of Brug, every Costus Ginger and most of my Cercumas this past Winter. On the Gingers I think it was being too wet more than the cold, what ever I lost bunches. The variegated ya'll have is a Shell and it blooms on second year growth, so you would have to keep it up during the Winter to see it bloom but it is grown mostly for it's foliage. We have had Gingers for several years but I really just got the bug year before last. I learned that Costus can be rooted easily with stem cuttings. I lost all that I had in the Grown, even Costus pictus Red Stemmed that we have had for years. From now on, I will take a cutting from each just in case we have another Winter like 2009. Also Curcumas roots are easily kept in damp, not wet peat over Winter. I will be storing them in small paper bags with name on the bag in our closet, just small pieces for backups. I did not loose any Hedychium, if they were healthy going into Winter so no backups.

pbtxlady, I do not have Pink Wonder so will be wanting to trade. I have not seen it's bloom but it will look something like this, this is Panama Purple;