Can anyone ID this one?

Hi, I'm just getting into growing gingers and got this plant from a friendly neighbor. She said it blooms pink for her. It just started to bloom about a week ago for us and it is white and VERY FRAGRANT :)

Thanks for any help on the ID
~Diana

probably Hedychium coronarium, but there are some other white hedychiums. In zone 6B I would guess coronarium though, its the most common white in the trade

Thank you, I was just wondering and thinking the same thing after seeing a similar photo a few posts down in the forum. I was mistakenly thinking it was Z. officinales.

this is the bottom and what the leaves look like

Zingiber officinales is the common kitchen ginger you buy at the store. Its blooms are basilar, not terminal. It blooms with little green and yellow "pinecones" like a shampoo ginger.

Your plant is a Hedychium, a butterfly ginger. It looks like it is supposed to, but it is badly in need of repotting. Yo need to cover those rhizomes with fresh soil and put it in a larger container.

Thanks, I had just re-potted it this summer into this pot, which gave it another couple inches all around plus added depth for the roots. The way I received it was with the rhizomes showing like that and my friend is a master gardener, I didn't question it. So, the rhizomes are best covered up more?

As a general rule, yes.

As you can probably tell, hedychiums extend their rhizome mass quickly. You will likely have to repot yearly, unless you start splitting your plant in half. Eventually you will be at the point where you will have to split it up.

Sometimes here in FL when people decide to move, thin, or REMOVE hedychiums, we have to use powertools, LOL.

That's funny :) I know what you mean because when I took it out of the pot to transplant it, it was pretty tightly bound!

Is it normal then, to have to add surface dirt to cover the rhizomes periodically?

Thank you for your help,
~Diana

I have extensive stands of hedychiums growing on my property, and I always make certain that the rhizomes are covered. Squirrels and other animals will chew them, and cold can harm them in a freeze if they are not buried.

Good to know...Thanks! I kept ours potted and recently took it inside because I figured it would not survive a zone 6b winter.

I also have another pot of ginger growing that was started from seed from a DGer. It is in its second year now, still has not bloomed yet, but it is looking good and growing. The blooms are supposed to be red. I don't know the genus or species on that one either.