Bananas.org - View Single Post

Olafhenny · 03-23-2011, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve L

Red ginger, Alpinia Purpurata, is a very difficult ginger to grow outside of zone 10. Very cold sensitive. Will croak at temperatures below 50. Needs constant high humidity. I have tried it off and on for 7 years in a container over wintering in my greenhouse. I got blooms but they were very small. This plant is prone to spider mites in a greenhouse environment. I finally gave it up. The second picture is of a Costus. Maybe Spicatus. No longer considered a ginger but still commonly referred to as spiral ginger. Easy to grow. Hardy in zone 9, maybe zone 8. Goes dormant in the fall. Comes back very reliably in the spring.

Steve

Hi Steve,

I think what you are telling me is, that I got lucky and hauled home plants, that are very similar to ginger in appearance, but much easier to raise, providing, of course, that I can get them to grow at all.

When I was in Vietnam I pointed at the bunch of cut flowers in the first picture and told the hotel staff, that this was what I wanted a live plant of. In the second picture you see what they got for me.

We have to keep in mind, that they were very helpful hotel staff, not gardeners, let alone botanists. All I saw in my ignorance about gingers and Costi, was that they had similar leaves and a red blossom about to open. If you are correct about your ID, and my search in the net seems to confirm, that you are, then the combined ignorance of myself and the hotel staff actually got me a much preferable deal.

Now I am tapping my toes waiting for some sign of life from my Costi.

Quote: Hardy in zone 9, maybe zone 8. Goes dormant in the fall. Comes back very reliably in the spring. Unquote

Do you have any idea, what it will do if I bring it inside in a pot in fall? I live in Zone 6 and leaving them out to shiver through the winter seems a lousy idea.

Thanks for your help,
Olaf