I planted this a couple of years ago, mainly for the foliage. Had no idea how beautiful the flowers were.
Alpinia Formosana in bloom
I agree with you rylaff! I haven't seen this one before, I like the leaf pattern, much finer than A. zerumbet var.
Thanks for the pic!
Nice picture. Most people don't realize how pretty fomosana blooms are or how cold hardy it's foliage is. I love mine. Yours has quite nice striping, lots of white.
Mine gets lots of sun, how about yours?
Not too much, bright filtered light, the sun is brutal here in Ocala. Morning sun or afternoon sun?
Beautiful. I don't have any with the variegated foliage. The ones that I do have winter here quite well.
Betty
Betty,
Do you have your in the ground?
Liz
My son lives in southern/western NC (about 30 mins. north of the Georgia line)and if he can grow them outside I'll make sure he brings some back with him his next visit.
Yes I have three different kinds in the ground and they get thicker every year.
Betty
Betty, what kinds of ginger do you have in the ground over the winter? I am always wanting to know what will take the winters...
I was hoping no one would ask. LOL
I have the White Butterfly
a beautiful Red that I don't know the name of
and a beautiful peach/gold.
I'll see if I can find pictures.
This is the butterfly
This is the peach/gold one. Sorry I don't know the name.
I can't find a picture of the red one. I'll look again.
Betty
Very nice Betty-thanks for showing me! Those are all types of hedychiums, and I didn't know that they would survive in your zone-that is really neat to know!!
Betty,
Kewl! This is really great to know! Thr orange/gold one in your picture is a coccineum Hedychium. I don't know if you have the species or if you have the hybrid 'Disney' To me Disney has a little more blue in the foliage and more 'red' in the pseudostem. Either way that is so neat to know that it not only grows where you live, but that the growing season is long enough that it will actually bloom as well. Thank you for sharing with us.
Liz
Thank you Liz, Nice to have a name with the picture. The foliage is a lot thinner and darker than the butterfly. Not close to blooming this Spring Probably another month. They are getting so tall I will have to stake them soon. Still haven't found the photos of the other one. I do have a variegated that I had forgotten. It is so much smaller than the others and has never bloomed. I do take that one in for winter.
Betty
My Hedychium 'Disney' in bloom last year, they're aren't blooming here as of yet either. My Daniel Weeks is blooming, he's always the first Hedychium to bloom here. Tara and Anne Bishop have inflorescence developong so they're not too far behind.
Liz
That is beautiful. I can't believe I don't have a better picture of my gingers. I'll post a better one after they bloom.
That is one I want buy have not procurred yet. Very pretty.
I saw this one in Miami last week. It looks like it's related to yours Rylaff? Lovely flowers.
Deb
Wow, Debin that is a must have.
It was a very nice plant. I have no idea the name though. Here's a better look at the leaves...
Deb
Deb,
Very nice picture of Alpinia zerumbet variegata. They use then alot down in south Florida as a landscape plant, they're beautiful.
Liz
Oh, I have that one, but it has never bloomed for me. A little too cold I guess.
Liz: Ah! Thanks for the ID. There were dozens of them all around the property where we stayed, all in bloom.
Deb
deb, you should be able to grow those in Summerville pretty well... maybe even as evergreens. in the Columbia/Lexington are they are deciduous, but down here they are reliable evergreen and very common. you should try some... they are definitely worth it!
Diehrd: Really!? Don't give me ideas! LOL! I just added them to my list. :)
Thanks,
Deb
ur welcome!
both of my shell gingers came back this spring from being in the ground over the winter-the regular shell and the variegated form.
tigerlily, how big are your Alpinia zerumbet variegata now?
I planted two well established plants, whch have grown a bit, and a rhizome that was in the greenhouse until about a month ago---it's just now peeking out. I do plan (thanks to your reports, lol) to leave some outside but I wondered if it would be smart to put the parger parts in the greenhouse just so the plants will be bigger. My Tis did make it, but they are quite small right now.
Tigerlily: Do yours get big enough to bloom?
Deb
No Deb, I would be shocked if either of them ever bloomed. Technically, neither plant has been in the ground long enough to really say-only one year, but the shell ginger only has one stalk up right now, and the var. shell has about 6 stalks up, so I know that that one is coming back faster, but it was larger at the end of the fall last year too.
Tropicanna-I would leave the largest plant in the ground over the winter, as it will have the largest root system to help it make it through the winter. Whatever plant you bring into the grhouse will survive ok. It has been my experience here, that they really don't take off in the pots until the late spring. A landscaper gave me about 10 huge clumps last fall that he pulled up from a job site and I divided them up into about 60 one gallons and they sort of just sat there until spring in the grhouse.
i have a bloom!!!
Oooh! They are really pretty.
How, how nice,
and thanks tigerlily for the advice!
OK, you guys with shell gingers in the ground,......Lowe's had variegated zerumbet for half price so I brought home a nice big one. If I decide to put it in ground, I have to choose between mostly shade (1 hour of midday sun) or half-sun (3 hours late morning sun).
How much sun do you think they can take, given the right amount of water?
Thanks!
Deb
i think either should be fine.
Thanks Diehrd: I just want to be careful because I have a couple of Alpinias and an acanthus that are in the area with the 3 hours of sun and they suffer this time of year.
Deb
mine gets sun from early am to about 2-3 in the afternoon and looks fine. I think they do need some sun, the more that I grow them-also that the more sun they have (up to a point maybe), the more variegation they show. Has anyone else noticed that?
oh yeah i see