Gingers
Ginger are underestimated plants, their displays of flowers and their varied leaf patterns really give the garden a resort atmosphere and generally their flowers are easier to use as cut flowers around the house than the Heliconia.
The Gingers
Alpinia Purpurata
The Alpinia Purpurata Red is looking a bit scruffy in the picture below but it is a rewarding plant that takes no effort other than to remove the spent stems after flowering so that they do not hide the new flowers. It is a terminal bloomer in that flowers are only produced at the end of a stalk/stem, if you leave the flowers on they will produce aerial shoots / small plants. As the small aerial shoots / plants get larger and larger, therefor heavier, the flower stem bends down to the ground and they will take root. I cut them off when large and have now have lots of new plants around the garden from this process and a few to give away.
The red ginger is a great cut flower lasting many days in the vase, and have several groups around the property only for this purpose. I am looking forward to when the pink and white varieties are producing large groups of flowers.
The white and pink varieties are difficult and are definitely not as vigorous as the red variety, and have struggled to have multiple white or pink groups, partly due to the small aerial shoots not growing well and after planting not giving them enough attention and loosing them in the dry season when I wasn't around and lastly possibly giving the red blooming plants the best spots, so the pink and white just seem to under perform.
Alpinia Purpurata April 1st Blue
A particularly unique blue variety growing along side Alpinia White. The blue blooms start off white and turn blue as the night progresses, with the darkest blues occurring on the darkest of April Fools nights when it is raining heavily. Exceedingly rare to see a blue bloom during the day.
Alpinia Purpurata Jungle King is much slower growing cultivator that should produce red blooms that are more globe like on its thick stems. I am hoping the flowers would larger, but this has not been the case and have not been that impressed. If this was the common red ginger as shown above, it would be a prolific bloomer, but on the positive side the red blooms have interesting white flowers that appear.
Jungle King also does not produce aerial shoots, so it will be quite a while before I divide the plant and move it to a more generous location.
Alpinia Vittata Variegated [probably W.Bull variety] was one of the first plants put in the garden. Because it was planted when it was very small, this plant was overlooked and suffered neglect, lack of water, but survived. Its leaves are interesting and have delicate white stripes on the edges of them . The flowers are small and creamy white even when the bracts dry up and turn brown.
It is not a spectacular plant, but its interesting dense nature makes it a favourite. It is also very pest resistant.
Alpinia Vittata Variegated Flower Life Cycle
I have another version of this plant that has more frequent variegated pattern that even includes the stems, but is is not as hardy and when it is growing well, just suddenly dies.
Alpinia luteocarpa or Red Bamboo Ginger. Likes semi shade, with its upright leaf stems with bronze undersides, it adds some interesting structure. It is not a quick grower and takes a year or two to get established. Because this plant is so upright, it can be be next to a path and not encroach to much. The flowers are supposed to be mildly scented, but not to me as cannot smell anything, plus they are small and easy to miss.
Alpinia Zerumbet "Variegated shell ginger"
This is quite a common ginger which is good as I managed to kill two plants due to neglect. Which is hard to do with this plant as once established, it requires very little attention.
Alpinia Nieuwenhuizii Valeton [Probably]
I thought I had been unsuccessful in growing this plant from seed as another variety presented itself. I must of got the seed mixed up with Alpinia Mutica, so was very happy to see the orchid like flower appear on pencil thick stems. The flower is small, but dramatic. I expect the plant to get to about 1.5 meters tall with the flowers presented in bunches at the end of the slender stems. It is easy to get this plant confused with Alpinia officinarum and use the length of the ligule rather than the flower to identify . I have Alpinia Nieuwenhuizii and the flower is not as grand.
I can now distinguish between the seed of Mutica and Valeton by the branching nature of Valeton stem. The delicate / small branch structure can be seen in the photo. However once the red/orange seed pods are removed then they look the same as Mutica seed pods.
Alpinia Mutica [Probably]
Quite a sturdy plant that is vigorous grower, will get to 4, maybe 5 meters tall and likes quite a bit of space. This plant has sturdy stems and like other Alpinia is a terminal flower, presenting bunches of flowers that can be a bit hidden in the foliage. I collected this seed accidentally when trying to get Alpinia Nieuwenhuizii Valeton . I got the seed at Gardens By The Bay Singapore and would take a walk at lunch time when working at MBFC. I would walk around the gardens frequently, so that I knew where various plants were. When some seed would appear, I would collect a couple seeds head and have a go at germinating them several months later when I went back to the Philippines. The difficulty is that you see a wonderful flower one month and the next month it has no flowers and the month after that, some ripe seed heads and you can easily end up growing the wrong plant.
Torch Ginger
The torch gingers [Etlingera Elatior] really tower above other plants, such that it is difficult to get a picture to put the size into perspective. The leaf stalks produce no flowers and only hold leaves, the plant is a basal bloomer with the flowers appearing separately on long stems coming out of the base of the plant, a dozen or so flowers can be visible at one time. The leaf stalks can get long, up to 5 meters and best to provide some support to stop them drooping over and hiding the view of the flowers or other plants. I also remove the lower leaves so that the flowers can be more easily seen. I have Pink, Red and White varieties, all of which are good as cut flowers. In Singapore the sun-birds feed from these flowers, but have yet to see them do this in the Philippines.
Etlingera Elatior Flower Life Cycle
Zingiber [Beehive Ginger]
The Beehive Gingers are very similar to the Torch gingers and produce thick leaf stalks that only hold leaves, these plants are basal bloomers with the flowers appearing separately on long stems coming out of the base of the plant.
Zingiber spectabilis ‘Giant Malay’
On thick stems, the Giant Malay produces large blooming flower head of almost uniform colour, from which the actual small white orchid like flowers appear, which are interesting in their own right. The bloom starts of as quite small golf ball size flower and then keeps on expanding. In my case the length of the flower was reaching roughly 45 cm long. Then as the flower matures, the colour changes from a soft golden colour to a soft red.
It takes a while and then the blooms start appearing in greater numbers every year.
Zingiber Spectabilis "Glowing Orb"
The flowers tend to start appearing in May , with this picture being the first flower to appear from this plant, so hoping that the plant goes on to produces a lot more. Its orange colour makes it stand out.
I found a gap in the trees that allows me to use one of the PTZ security cameras to get a picture of it. Which is great as can track progress from anywhere - globally. The distance is somewhere between 20 - 25 meters. There is not a lot of references to using security cameras for looking at the garden, but I have a number of Dahua cameras and they allow the remote gardener to set a lot of preset positions for favourite plants and I can even track them at night with the excellent IR.
Zingiber spectabilis ‘Early Yellow’
The beehive ginger flowers in the first few months of the year, what I like about this plant is the tiny orchid like flowers that appear across the bright yellow cone. Over time this cone begins to turn red as they age, this transition to red takes weeks and then the flower cone continues to last for many weeks in its deep red state. I have found this plant quite tricky to grow, it likes shade and happiest when planted next to something that almost makes it difficult to get sun.
Zingiber spectabilis ‘Unknown Varity
A local beehive ginger which has dull green flowers that slowly turn red.
Costus - Spiral Gingers
Costus are often called Spiral Gingers are quite a large group of plants in their own right. I have focused on a few that produce flowers for the birds, bees and butterfly's. Most of my costus have been grown from cuttings and on the rare occasion from seed, with some of them just starting to flower.
Costus stenophyllus - Bamboo Ginger
This costus has straight stems with banding that makes it resemble bamboo, hence its common name of "Bamboo Ginger"; the plant so far has attained a height of about 1.5 meters already and each stem is topped with thin frizzy leaves. The blooms appear from the base and have yellow flowers.
Costus Woodsonii
An attractive plant producing waxy red bracts at the end of a stem. The plant produces longer bracts as the plant gets older. The red bracts are like large red fish scales, the orange tubular flowers appear one or couple at a time and are apparently eatable, but have not tried one. I have seen these plants get to 2 meters tall. It will also produce aerial offshoots at the base of the red bracts when they plant mature and dry up. My plants did get very tall in a thick clump that obscured some other plants, so dug is up and moved it. Once established this plant is hard to kill.
Costus Sp Orange
This plant looks like an Orange version of Costus Woodsonii, with orange flowers. It seems quite hardy but not as definitely not as vigorous as Woodsonii, but given a good position, it seems to very slowly flourish.
Costus Green Mountain
Costus Green Mountain is a hybrid that has soft red bracts and produces orange flowers. Eventually it turns into a green cone when mature. The leaves have a soft burgundy coloured underside. The plant will get to 1-1.5m tall in no time at all. Quite a tough plant, it will tolerate full sun for a short time, but wilts and suffers in full sun.
Costus 'Phoenix'
A great plant, that is a vigorous grower and impresses with its determination to produce red flowers and these become longer on the more mature plant stems. This plant does well in full sun as long as it does not get too dry. Surprisingly the flowers last a long time as cut flowers.
Costus Speciosus Variegated
This plant is not as vigorous as the non variegated version, but it makes up for it with red stems, interesting leaf pattern on the large, soft velvet like undersides of its variegated leaves. The plant will hold multiple flowers on each dark maroon flower cones. Costus Arabicus is similar looking variety with leathery leaves, but is also seems to be difficult to grow as all of my cuttings / plants have faded away, so sticking with the Costus Speciosus Variegated. I have not seen this variegated type produce seeds before, so have planted some and will be interested if they are fertile.
Costus Speciosus
What I like about this plant is that after the flowers have gone, a red cone is left behind, which is quite attractive. I have also noticed some birds eating the seeds, which is another attraction. I have seen a number of seedlings appear around the property as a consequence of the birds dispersing the seeds.
Costus Lacerus Red Stems
Costus Lacerus Red Stems in addition to the red stems has leaves that develop a burgundy colouring underside. Otherwise is looks like Costus Specious.
Costus Erythrophyllus
Costus Erythrophyllus will get to about 1m tall. The leaves are deep green and have a deep burgundy underside that is impressive. in the picture the morning sun hitting the wet leaves, makes the plant standout in the garden.
This plant also produces attractive flowers, it also attracts the chickens and they nibble the plants until they disappear. Caterpillars seem to like the leaves as well, so combine this with slow growth and the the plants can disappear quickly. I had to dig them up and put them in pots as the location I had them in got over grown and almost lost the plants
Costus Lucanusianus
I had a couple of cuttings and had to wait a long time for the plant to flower before I could confidently identify it as Costus Lucanusianus. It is a vigorous grower and grows to 3 -4 meters tall. The flowers seem to attract insects as could not find one without an insect inside. The yellow and pink turn to gold and a deeper red as the flower ages during the day that they are open. Numerous flowers are produced on each flower head.
Not the most attractive plant, but adds some variety into the garden. I let it flourish then hack it back.
Costus Fissiligulatus. African Princess, Cameroon Pink Ginger
Quite a tough plant, put a few small plants in the back garden and they have managed to survive and flower. It has a pink flower that stands out and it always seem to be flowering as well, so plan to move the plant to a better location the first opportunity provided. The plant will get to 2-3 meters tall.
Costus Pictus D.Don
Not sure how I got this plant, it has quite attractive flowers, but the green bracts are nothing special, so I am surprised that I have it as generally I expect more from a plant. Costus pictus leaves are used as a munching dietary supplement for the treatment of diabetes in Southern India.
Costus Pulverulentus 'Purple Passion'
Quite a hardy plant that does best when it doesn't get too much afternoon sun. It has attractive flower, plus its leaves have deep burgundy undersides.
This Costus seems to set seed quite easily and germinates easily as well,which is how I got it. The seeds are smaller than pepper corns and held in white pulpy / fleshy capsules. Germination doesn't take to long either, so you do not need to wait long to see if the seed is good.
Costus Phuket Kiss
The picture is of one of the first flowers seen on this plant grown from a cutting and just planted in October 2019. There is something quite attractive about the plant, which is a vigorous bloomer. I expect that as the plant matures it will get to about 1.5 meters in height, plus the flowers will get larger.
Dimerocostus strobilaceus
Dimerocostus strobilaceus is a tall growing plant, some of mine more than 5 meters tall, too tall to get a good picture. What I like about these plants is that it is a very erect grower and has thick stems that look a bit like bamboo, which in-itself is good to look at, but I also like the large showy flowers.
The plant is a terminal bloomer with that presents its white flowers one after another in a spiral formation until there are none left, but when you think that is all it has to give; the stem seems to push through the finish flower head and then continues growing and it produces another flower head. I have had some flower heads branch so that I have stem with two heads.
Some times a yellow fruit is produced as shown in the photo, which also shows the continuation of the stem through the old flower head. The fruits yellow skin is more like a tough plastic casing protecting the black caviar like seeds.
Zingiber Hedychium Coronarium - Unknown Variety
I ordered some White Butterfly Ginger and got this orange / peachy type instead. I has a wonderful fragrance and is a hardy grower
Costus Globosus
I got this plant from a small cutting and thought it was another much more spectacular plant. So while I am happy it flowered, I am not that happy as the plant is in a prime position and it just produces small basal flowers that last a day. The flower stems emerge then the ants cover them with debris, then the flowers appear quickly. The plant must produce something that the ants like, because they are really keen to protect the flowers.
The last of the suns rays seen through the mango trees before the garden is enveloped in complete darkness
