Blue Ginger

Yea, I know it is not a real ginger. But it is pretty.

Wow! It's a beauty!

Mine is fixing to bloom as well..!!!!!!!!!

I just love the vivid colors.

Thanks! Another cultivar for me to attempt. Is it easy to grow?

I have it in a pot on my porch. I gets sun in the late afternoon. I water it when I water everything else and it has bloomed every year for me.

Thanks again. Will look up for it online. By the way, does it give out a scent? Still another of God's beauty.
Jayesri

I dont think so.

Mine is in the ground...I mulch mine thru the winter with leaves when it goes dormant on me..

Found an online seller who also gives instructions on how to grow them. Upon receiving, I will baby the root cuttings in pots. Perhaps next spring, I'll transplant a couple and see how they take inground here. Can't get enough exotic plants around here.
~~Jayesri

Ditto

heavenscape, mine are inground now and doing well, but I'm moving it into the GH. No flowers yet, but it's still a pretty plant without them. It produces flowers on mature stalks, so if by some chance it would overwinter here, we still wouldn't see the blooms

The 'Blue Ginger' is actually Dichorisandra thyrsiflora, along with that one we also grow a pendulum form that is shorter, bushier and has a longer blooming season, year 'round in frost free areas. It starts blooming for us about a month after it comes back from a freeze. Grows under the same conditions as thyrsiflora, we grow ours in morning sun and afternoon shade. They don't like wet foliage after the sun goes down, but like evenly moist soil.
I still have to add them to our website.
Liz@gingerlandtropicals.com

close up of bloom

Dichorisandra pendula

Thank you guys for introducing me to another specie.

Those are awesome! Do they have any fragrance? How hardy are they and will they go dormant in the fall even without freezing temps?
I always want to plant something yellow or orange next to blue... lol.

LOL Angel!! We can't never have too many plants!! Are you one that carries around a color wheel when deciding what to plant?

Liz, if you don't mind me asking, are they hard to grow from cuttings? I have one where there's a piece I know isn't growing, just there, it'd be nice if I could make it do something..lol

Seriously, Liz and Rylaff, to me the flowers look like giant versions of the blue Muscari.
Angel, if you are interested, there is one that loves the hot weather. It's the "Blue Potato", a vine that can be trained into a small shrub or is it vice versa? I have one in the yard, a shrub. The flowers are not very significant but still lovely.
Edit: If not trained, can be quite lanky.


This message was edited Oct 8, 2007 8:53 PM

Here is mine that was beginning to bloom yesterday..

Moodene, lucky you!

here is a pic of mine..known as Drooping blue ginger...can't spell the latin name..lol

Yes ma'am, they will grow from cuttings or by division. If you want to sprout cuttings lay the entire stem on it's side and partially cover with light propagation mix. This method works better than cutting up stem and sticking cuttings, it's the way Richard does it here at the nursery.
They are very hardy and would be evergreen in a zone 10 area, ours freeze back to the ground every year and just come up a little thicker each time. We even let the ones for the nursery freeze back rather than try to protect them and keep them evergreen.
They are actually related to spiderwort and wandering jew.
Not fragrant, but they're beautiful. Anice orange ginger to plant in front of it is Costus cuspidatus, it is also evergreen (in frost free areas), is onlt about 18"to 2' tal and has the most brilliant orange blooms.
I have one of my patches of Blue ginger growing in with my Zingiber zerumbet and looks really awesome this time of the year with the basal red inflorescence and the purple/blue blooms of the Dichorisandra.
Liz

Liz, thanks so much...I had to go dig mine and it's looking kinda droopy, maybe I can try cuttings. It had started to grow a pretty hefty sized rhizome-thing, but something took a big bite out of it

My subscription to DG pays off with this page! Thanks for this valuable info!

lol @ carrying a color wheel. If only I could be that organized!! I guess orange is across from blue (if I remember right) I never had an actual color wheel but had a quilting book that showed a photo of one. I just think orange and blue look awesome. I used to plant orange cosmos in front of every place that I lived! I do have a blue potato vine, I think it is called, rantonetti or something like that. It needs repotting very badly.

Liz...im going to need some of those orange flowers too!! ;-o