I have had this plant for several years and it is finally blooming Zingiber pinecone ginger. I don't know which one it is yet. Lost tag. But it is a neat plant.
Growing pinecones
Barb, I'm thinking that maybe they have to be in the ground a few years before they bloom. Mine bloomed every year at the last house. This is year three here and not a bloom yet!
Kay
Didn't remember I even had it. I love surprises like that. It is like xmas morning.
LOL Barb. Mine just went into the ground this spring so I guess that means I have 2 years to go before blooms??
Donna it looks that way or you can come here and watch mine. LOL-
hmmmm I had blooms last year in the swamp..
Just wait till it turns red Barb.. then it will truly feel like Christmas.. in August!
Looks like Awapuhi to me....the Shampoo Ginger.
Barb, I was so surprised last year to see the red pinecone under mine. This year I have four pinecones that are not as big as last year, but up on tall spikes like yours. Last year, they were nearly on the ground and the pinecone itself was about six inches. Wonder if anybody ever tried to use the soapy stuff and actually shampoo your hair? Paul Mitchell uses it.
Roz-after you. Let us know how it works. LOL Or you could try it on one of your grandchildren. LOL
Or, better idea - on Rosie!
I got mine in a trade last spring and put some in pots and some in the ground.
The ones in the ground i got 1 small bloom last year, pots nothing. This year, the ones in the ground started blooming about 2 months ago and a pot just started sending out the spikes.
It is the neatest flower, i walk by it daily and give it a little squeeze just to smell it.
Any trick to making shampoo or do you use the fluid straight out of the cone?
I'm not sure, Jen, but the pine cone thing is just as sudsy as it can be. I could not hurt, I don't think to try it out. I think I will. It probably is highly concentrated. I still have a while before mine gets soft and sudsy and red; the pine cone things are still green. I got a variegated pine cone ginger at the N.O. plant show. Jen, when it gets big enough to split, I will put your name on a piece. I bet it will be big enough next spring. I put it in the ground.
That is such a cool plant! I got one a last year and had kept it in a pot. It grew the leaves but no pinecones. Than I kept it in the house in the winter but the leaves started to die off. I repotted it this Spring and it's been growing again like crazy but no pinecones. I wonder if I will ever get it to bloom in a pot.
Roz a var. one sounds cool. Take a picture to show us.
:) Donna
I will, Donna.
My pinecone ginger was outside for two years before it made a pine cone, and then only made one. I sure was surprised.
Well than there is hope for me to. It would be so cool to get it to bloom so I can try the shampoo thing.
:) Donna
I don't know how you're supposed to do it, but I squeezed mine last year just as they got ripe and put it in my hair before shampooing and it made is really soft and shiny. No cones this year, so dull, scraggly hair is the look this year. LOL!!!!!!!
Janet
I am definitely going to try it too.
I have never tried it....but think I will when they turn red. I know the Hawaiians and S. polynesians swear by it...and Paul Mitchell got awfully rich!!!
I tried the shampoo thing this morning....got my hair wet, poured a mess of the fluid in my hair...i guess i expected lather, which i didnt get. I pondered for a second, threw some pert on and washed away, lol. After i rinsed the shampoo i poured some more of the fluid on and left it like a conditioner...my hair has been amazingly soft and it sure smells good : ).
anybody have a shampoo recipe that i could use to make my own?
does the fluid refill in the cone or is it a one time thing?
Barb, too cool!! Do you have any new pictures of what it matured to look like?
Jen, I don't know for sure, but I think it does not fill back up. I am going to try it too, but I want to wait until my cones turn red.
Try it one your hands and face.. Makes a great moisturizer..
Larkie
Really? Wow, what a plant!!
well durn about it not filling back up, i only have maybe 5 or 6 more cones that i can play with ; *
No, Jen, it doesn't fill back up. You should be able to squeeze it more than once, though. When you squeeze it, it dries out the cones and they wither away eventually.
Janet
I tried it several years ago when I had lot of cones... One cone produces a lot of the sap or whatever you want to call it. I tried it on my hair.. I mixed it in with my shampoo.. and put the rest in at the sink with my liquid hand soap....