I started some gingers back in early May from bulbs. One is a Curcuma (Ginger Lily), the other is Zingiber Zerumbet (Pine Cone Ginger). The Curcuma tag says it blooms when the leaves emerge in the spring. The Zingiber tag says it blooms in late summer to early fall. I didn't get any blooms on either, but perhaps I started them too late or the plants are not mature enough to bloom yet? I haven't really fertilized the plants but they were potted up with some compost in 10-12 inch plastic pots. They are in partial sun and I've been pretty good about not letting them dry out too much. I'm assuming it's too late to get any blooms on the Curcuma this year. Any suggestions on getting it to bloom next year? Is there still hope for the Zingiber to bloom for me?
Questions about new Gingers
My curcumas are still in bloom. My zingibers have been blooming a little while. Mine are in pots.
Maybe Lisa or Barb will be along in a while and answer your questions.
So do you get more than one bloom on your curcumas??? I only seem to get one bloom on my other unknown curcuma and it's done. I need to scan in the pictures I took of the flower and post it with the pictures of the leaves. I was told to put that curcuma in dappled sunlight. Maybe more plant food is required? I'm not good about regularly feeding stuff...
Butterfly, I think it's because it's a large clump that I'm still getting blooms. It's filled up a 12" pot, has had about 8 stems of blooms this year.
Hi Butterfly Gardener,
There are 2 groups of Curcumas, those that bloom in the spring(early bloomers) and those that bloom in the summer(late bloomers). Spring bloomers are the ones that bloom before or sometimes while the foliage is just coming out. They usually start blooming around May, when dormacy is breaking. The flower spike is on a seperate stalk from the foliage. The summer blooming Curcumas have flower spikes that show up in the middle of the plant, tucked away in the foliage. These will bloom from about the middle of the summer to late fall. All Curcumas need some sun to bloom. They will not do well in shaded areas and if left in the shade, they will from year to year, get progressivly worse. They like medium sun--mostly a.m. sun for you, since you are in zone 9.
Your Zingiber still might bloom for you---how tall is it? They will grow up to 7 feet in med. sun. Is yours close to being that tall?
I hope this helps.
Thanks Lisa, now I know what's wrong with a couple of my gingers! Not enough sun.
I didn't know that there were spring and summer blooming curcumas. I guess I must have two summer blooming ones, as the ones I've had for a couple of years now bloom around late June or early July. They went dormant around November of last year and didn't come up again until May. I was starting to think I'd lost them due to the cold winter even though I'd put the pots in the garage.
My Zingiber is about 5 ft. tall now. Sounds like there is still hope :) I would love to see a bloom on it this year!