I just love it so much!!
Do you know if this ginger is sick??
Close up
And the leaves on another in same pot.
THANKS for any help you can give me.
Im having trouble with mine too but in my case I blame the squirrels. I've seen the branches broken and chewing on the stalks. I've moved it to different locations but still it looks bad.
closer picture
Kell, I just saw this thread, but don't know why those spots are there. I wouldn't hesitate to buy it though if it is not too expensive because it will grow new stalks after it is planted, and this one should die back eventually. Those spots wouldn't keep me from buying it. It is positively gorgeous. It probably has to do with moisture gathering and hanging out in those spots -- not fatal at all.
Hi Clare!!! OK, I went late today and they still had the one with the most variegation in the pot. It is a sport of Dr. Moy. The guy thought it was from all the rain we had for days on end in the spring. Anyway, when I saw this thread had been reactivated my heart sank. For I had bought it today and if the new poster said it was a fatal disease I would have died. It was $40 for a 5 gallon pot. More than I wanted to spend on it. LOL
I was thinking of cutting off all the stems. Would that force new stems for the spring?
I have your name on one of the tubers.
Kell,
Did the nursery have a name for this one??
It looks lot like alpinia vittata to me.
http://www.gingersrus.com/images/thumbnail.php?columns=4&Folder=Alpinia%20-%20all%20species
I hope gingersrus doesn't mind me using his pictures.
Anyway, I have had this one twice. It may do well in your zone, but doesn't like mine. I even kept it in a pot and put it in a covered area once, but still not warm enough. It is beautiful. the one I had even bloomed. Believe it or not, I got it at Wal-Mart in Florida for $12!!!!!
But that was just luck, and Wal-Mart not knowing what they had. LOL!!!
Good luck with it. It is a beauty. You might look at alpinia formosa also, aka pinstripe ginger.
This one is also a beauty, and a little less finicky. IMHO.
Janet
I've been quietly lusting after your plant, kell. I have never seen it sold locally. I suspect this winter I will be cruising thru GingerRUs and thru Liz's websites, lol.
janet, I just wanted to remark that I have Alpinia formosana (pinstripe ginger) and it is sooooo slow, compared with zerumbet variegata. Don't know why, unless it's just the "beginner's slows". I sure hope so.
Vossner,
Really??? I would've thought it would do well in your zone. It grows like a weed in New Orleans. I saw it about 8 feet tall, in several areas, and blooming!! Maybe it just needs time to get going. The alpinia vittata was the slow one for me. It only put out a few new stalks when I had it. Kell should do really well with it, though, because she is much warmer than us. Some gingers won't bloom the next year if they go dormant.
Janet
Anald, maybe you would like to rent my cat - I took this today...
Kell, let me split the cost with you. Do you have PayPal? I'll send you $20, and you can hack those rhizomes in half and send me half! LOL! Well, you don't have to cut it now, but I'll buy a couple rhizomes from you when you want to sell a couple. I was hoping that this was a Hedychium, and if it is a sport of Dr. Moy, then I think it has to be a Hedychium. It doesn't look like the Alpinia to me, but I do not know gingers well.
Anaid, your gingers look perfectly healthy to me except for some brown leaf tips, probably due to underwatering. The yellowing and dying back of stalks is part of the natural cycle of gingers. As new ones come in, old ones decline. I just cut them off when they turn yellow.
Oh, my, God, Sherry! Is that cat hurting that squirrel? I can't bear it! Poor little thing. What a cruel way to go. I'm sad now.
Forgot to add, Kell, don't cut the stems. The rhizomes need the energy, I think. They will die back on their own eventually.
Hi Voss! Getting into gingers? I have been on the perimeters of them looking in for long while now.
I think he said it was unnamed. But he did say it was a sport of Dr. Moy. He did take a tag out of one pot of them and put it in mine so I will look at what it says when I go out there in the cold. LOL
Your alpinia vittata is gorgeous, Janet! Too bad it died. I hate that when I love a plant and it hates me. I have already killed some pretty expensive gingers. All zone 10. Not so hard to do.
I think this one is pretty hardy the way he had them growing. No way Clare. I was going to get this one anyway. The way they grow I only need a piece of it. And I would love to share with you!
Hey, the squirrel is the aggressor, he started it, he jumped on the cat's back, the cat was acting in self defense. I would never send a photo if either animal had been injured. They stalk each other from sunup to sundown and they were back at it before I got my digi downloaded...
Oh Sherry I thought you had lost it. LOL. I had totally missed your earlier posting and I could not understand what you were talking about. If you read your last post by itself, it is rather odd. LOL.
Oh Clare, I always feel terrible when my little sweet girl mini cat brings home a bird or mouse. I always try to save them. Big eats little. Though I didn't know a cat would go after a big squirrel. Or a squirrel go after a cat. LOL
That does look a bit like Dr. Moy. I lucked out last year and got a free plant at our local botanical garden during a class on tropicals for central Florida! I didn't think it was very rare. The flowers are beautiful as is the foliage.
This message was edited Nov 26, 2006 6:43 PM
Oh, that's good, Sherry. Thanks for that. Maybe they're just playing then or trying to show each other whose tougher;-) That is really funny that the squirrel started it. I had no idea that squirrels were that brave. They used to sound the alarm and run and hide when my dogs or cat was out around their holes in the pasture.
Me too, Kell! Madam was the hunter when she was alive. She used to bring all sorts of things through that cat door. If it was still alive when she brought it in, I took it away and either set it free to tried to rehabilitate it! Most of the time, it was mice that she caught, and she would eat the whole thing right in front of me before I could take it away. All she left was a little snout of a nose sometimes. Yuck! Nature is cruel, isn't it?
That's a beauty, Brad!
Well, Clare, the cat's neutered, I'm thinking we should neuter the squirrel too....
I have three Dr. Moy gingers. They don't look good, and have never looked good, but I'm going to leave them for the winter and try to make them happier next season.
Ha! You might be right! That is too funny!
I didn't want to say....but I thought that cat and that squirrel were making out! (kinda like pet porn?)
Oh no Voss, LOL. A love bite. Thank goodness you had the cat neutered or would have a house full of love catuirrels.
Oh, Kell, I know where you are re mini and the birds. My fav cat, my heart cat, Darthvader, orange/white, was just awful & he was in love with me. I had two precious wrens who nested in one of my flower pots, they are such sweet birds. First, Darth brought me the adorable momma wren and left it right outside the back door, where I'd step on her warm body when I went out for the paper. The daddy wren was devastated and inconsolable, so what did Darth do?? He murdered him too. My heart was past broken and it took me some time to get over it. But, lets face it, animals are animals and Darth knew I loved the wrens, so he brought them to me. This cat/squirrel is similar in that I keep fresh water for the squirrels when we have droughts & I feed them royally, but I have a motive - I do it to keep them from digging up my plants. I do not think the cat likes me having any association with the squirrels or, voss, it could be a love interest that we are mistaking for hate, lol!!!
I was so amused at the thought of cat/squirrel love, I forgot to say to Ncasselberryfla that your picture is so pretty. I bet it is so fragrant!
Anaid, I am sorry, I missed your posts somehow. I am so ignorant when it comes to gingers. I have no clue how to help you. I will say that hedychiums seem to grow wild here and they always look ratty to me. Oh I see Clare answered you, she is much more knowledgeable than I am!
So Clare, could you ever kiss your Madam again on her little cat lips? I will say I am not happy when Molly does her cat thing at all. It takes me awhile to forget and get real huggable with Molly again. I am so glad that my cat Gabby who is my heart, is too fat to catch anything and never goes outside unless I go out. This suits me fine for I am always kissing her much to her dismay. LOL.
Oh Sherry, I think Molly and Darth are siblings. Molly leaves her catches by my doors too and worse she has brought live hummers in to share with Gabby. Gabby is never quite sure what to do with them and makes so much noise I catch her before any harm is done.
We had a great cat Nick, who was an incredible garbage hunter. Every night he would go far and wide and bring home so much. He would even carry newspapers in his mouth.
With Dr. Moy and anything thar is variegated each pseudistem is going to have varying amounts of variegation, on the same plant. You can go ahead and cut off older 'canes' it will send up new ones if it's warm enough. Richard (my DH) just divided and cut back about 40 pots of them, maybe a month ago. I jst water tem if dry, until more shoots emerge, which most have.
Liz
WOW that is so pretty. What is that one called, Liz?
Kell ~ is it possibly over-watered or under-watered? That's the only thing I can think of. Anu
I know my Dr. Moy was under watered & the dirt around it needs to be broken up, so water can get in better. They have not been pretty since they arrived & my butterfly is or was beautiful but didn't bloom, it could be just a bit to young. I'll give them all another chance but only one, I just don't like looking at ugly, non productive plants when there are plenty that always look pretty and bloom their hearts out...
That is one of my Dr. Moy's blooming this summer.
Liz
I'm green with envy, it is beautiful, birdlady!!!
Thank you ma'm, I love my Dr. Moy, it's a great grower with nice stout stalks and heavenly blooms too :)
Liz
So that variegated one is Dr. Moy Liz? I have never seen a Dr. Moy with such big white variegation. You are lucky!
I had one of my hedychiums bloom in a pot this summer. It is Elizabeth I think. The bloom was so small for such a tall stalk I was so disappointed.
Wow! Such pretty pictures, everyone!
Sherry, Darth Vadar is such a great name for a cat! That is really sweet of you to feed the squirrels and give them water.
Kell, yeah, it was pretty disgusting to see Madam down a whole mouse. I'm not even sure she chewed it. But, I have to admit that I still kissed her after that -- just not right after. We lived in an old farmhouse that was falling apart, and there was mouse poop in all the built-in drawers and closets and cabinets and everywhere. Madam was so grateful that we adopted her and gave her a home that she brought us a mouse every night, sometimes twice a night. She would make a huge announcement when she came in with it through the cat door. This happened at all hours of the night. She got quite a belly on her!
Kell, that is a gorgeous color!
Here's my pink one. Kay sent me all the gingers that I have, and I just love them. I can't be sure, but I think this one is Beni-Orian(sp)
I think this is H. x kewense. I shouldn't guess since I have them all mixed up.
I think the H. x kinkaku has the very narrow stalks, compared to the others:
I think I can be fairly sure that this one is H. x gardnerarium:
Well, it looks like gingers will be my third addiction since I've been at DG. And, hey, mine look crummy. Is there anything I can do to help them in the winter??? Those are just wonderful Clare, so pretty they don't look real.
Darth (Vader) was the world's meanest cat - when he walked down the street at dusk, all the little animals, birds, other cats, dogs, tippy toed to their hiding places. Darth never fought because no animal that ever came into contact with wanted to take him on - except my tiny Yorkie, Little Bo Peep. Darth's paw/claws, were as big as Peeps, she weighed in at 5lbs, Darth was HUGE too. Hubby and I would be sitting in the grotto, with Peeps in my lap - when Darth would make his entry, like a lion coming in for dinner, and Peeps would stiffen as Darth approached, I'd have to restrain her, with a finger, she was so tiny, and by the time Darth glided into my lap on the other leg, Peeps would come at him growling, and showing her tiny, little white teeth like an alligator snapping at fresh kill. Darth could have wiped Peeps out with one slap, but he never, ever touched her in all the years they were together. As long and sharp as his claws were, he never once scratched me or anyone else. We decided Darth must have thought Peeps was a cat & apparently she was the love of his life. Those were the days, we've always had a home full of animals.
Thanks for the story of Darth and Peeps. That is so great. I never tire of hearing of stories like that and could talk about animals all day long. I love them as much, if not more, than plants.
I definitely love animals best, b-u-t, flowers are about equal on my list. Thanks, Clare...