'Raven' (Kaempferia rotunda)

'Raven'
Kaempferia rotunda

Hi there fellow Adelaidian! I have one of those, it's inside for now in this climate, with leaves a bit tatty, no flowers yet but here's hoping. Nice to see another Aussie here!

Hi Wallaby1 - so you're an Adelaidian living in the UK growing tropical spices? crazy! get back over here, the climates better mate.. :)

Tell me about it! I did go back in '89, got kids tho, school etc., now grandkids. I am growing just about anything tropical I can get away with. AND trying some in the ground, I think I have just lost my Leptospermum s. Red Damask! it looks dried up, not that low temps but long time cold. Got lots of musa sikkimensis + others, agaves, palms, increasing ginger stocks, I keep buying seed! It is surprising what you can get through winters here in a cold greenhouse, or in the house. It is challenging, and I will prove I can do it! Still long for warmer weather though.

Yes. it is amazing what you can get away with. I'm growing a lot of tropical things here (since we rarely get frosts) and having good success. I am mostly interested in spices and herbs, food plants. Do you have any Curcumas? I have turmeric doing very well in a large pot outside. It's almost a metre tall! I'm currently looking for Curcuma zedoaria. I also have plants of Boesenbergia pandurata (rotunda) and Kaempferia galanga in pots, as well as Alpinia galanga, Alpinia zerumbet and the Australian native Alpinia caerulea all doing well in the garden.

I have grown a Hedychium from a seed mix, it is in it's 3rd year now, inside and growing a strong new shoot, hope to get flowers this year. Only got one! Also have 2 seedlings of Alpinia zerumbet variegata, have you come across www.tradewindsfruit.com that is where I got it from, very cheap.

Last year I bought a rhizome of Hedychium ellipticum, which I left in the greenhouse in February, it grew late but I was lucky as it was very cold. I got a flower nearly fully open in September but it turned cold and it went soggy! It is supposed to be hardy to zone 7 I think, so will put some in the ground. We often don't have warm enough summers being a small island. I also bought a Curcuma zedoaria, also left in the greenhouse, which was stupid and it rotted. It was Urban Jungle here that had them bare root, haven't seen them this year as yet. I got a supermarket piece of ginger to grow, it has increased the root size and is inside for winter, interesting to see what it does.

That's a healthy looking plant. We used to get frosts where I grew up, Hindmarsh Tiers on the way to Victor Harbor, but they always thawed when the sun warmed up. I have memories of riding my bike a mile to the school bus stop and getting frozen fingers and toes, it somehow seems worse when you are used to the heat.

This is my seed grown Hedychium, will have to wait for it to flower to know what it is