palmtree

I agree, the second picture you have is not a red ginger, which is good. Although, I like red ginger better, they are very difficult to grow outside of the tropics. Costus are not difficult to grow outside of the tropics. Actually my costus (spiral ginger) grows very quickly for me indoors. I got it as a root this december and it had no sign of life for about 2 weeks. I thought it was dead, but I saw a sprout come out and it grew very quickly for me by a warm and sunny window (now over a foot tall and making pups). They are suppose to be pretty cold tolerant (probably will come back with no problems at all in a zone 8b, and maybe zone 8a). Im hoping for blooms from mine this summer, but Im not expecting blooms from my red ginger ever.
Good luck!

__________________
Location: New York City, zone 7b