This is curcuma or ginger 'Sulee Sunshine' .

Jim

Is the bloom habit typical of the genus Jim? The way the new petals(?) grow out of the old is fantastic.

Yes, I think this is pretty typical of this genus but I love the color of this variety. I got it at Plant Delights nursery.

Jim

Thanks Jim, I've gone back several times for another look. Frankly the image on PDN doesn't do it justice.

Sorry, I don't know the name of this one but it was looking pretty in the sun this morning.

Jim

Is that Costus cuspidis?...Have you tried eating the flowers? They are wonderful in salads/out of hand/on a cheesecake!!!

I got outside between rainstorms today and took a quick walk around the garden with my new little compact camera

My kaempferia collection of four varieties


Various gingers and heliconias


these eggshell gingers were 12 feet high last year before cutting all the frozen stems back to the ground. In another year they'll be back.

some more gingers:

Blue ginger or Dichorisandra thyrsiflora



Zingiber zerumbet

Beautiful jungle collection Fred. FYI, I don't know if your kaempferia qualify as variegated ginger, but an article I read on DG titled "Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner - Soil fertility by the seasons" by Lari Ann noted high P fertilizer yielded best leaf color. Not that yours look like they need any help.

Evan, my kaempferia survived a five day shipment from Texas and then spent some time in the postman's truck. I didn't know if I could even save them but they are alive. Only one is an established plant with giant leaves and in healthy condition. With the others I'm waiting till next year. They are just surviving at the moment.

Hey Fred, I remember your early post about the shipment from Texas. They're much better off in Naples than TX. I was wondering if the advice in the article rings true to you. If so it might work on other variegated or patterned leaf plants.

eclayne said:Hey Fred, I remember your early post about the shipment from Texas. They're much better off in Naples than TX. I was wondering if the advice in the article rings true to you. If so it might work on other variegated or patterned leaf plants.

I think Florida has enough natural phosphor in the ground for plants to do well. They mine the stuff somewhere around here. The leaves on my established kaempheria look really good and I haven't touched that plant in years. It just comes back year after year. That's why I wanted to have some more.

That last picture with the red cones looks like a shampoo ginger, Zingiber zerumbet. It's pointy-er than mine and a bit redder but looks like it. If you run your hand along the bloom a clear liquid will come out that you can wash your hair with. I tried it one time in our outside shower, it didn't lather much but my hair felt ok and it smelled good.

extranjera said:That last picture with the red cones looks like a shampoo ginger, Zingiber zerumbet. It's pointy-er than mine and a bit redder but looks like it. If you run your hand along the bloom a clear liquid will come out that you can wash your hair with. I tried it one time in our outside shower, it didn't lather much but my hair felt ok and it smelled good.

It is Zingiber zerumbet. I just can't remember the names until someone reminds me of them.

Thanks for giving me a heads up

I know I photographed this plant before but I had to do it again.

Blue ginger or Dichorisandra thyrsiflora

That is gorgeous! I may have to look for some.

Ibartoo said:That is gorgeous! I may have to look for some.

Linda,

I see you're from Pawley's Island. I was just there for a week. My son had rented a large beach house in Debordieu with lots of bedrooms to occupy.

Anyway, the blue gingers are beautiful plants. They are blue as blue can be. I wish you luck with them.
fred

Fred, My son spent the summer working in Debordieu. He love it. There is no place like it in the world that I have found. Do you know where I can find some of the blue ginger?

Linda,
I try not to interfere in my son's life and always assume I'm dead and things will be what they are but as nice as Debordieu was, I could never justify the expense of living there part time or otherwise. The owner of the house my son rented for a week, at almost 7 grand, is faced with a $75K assessment from the HOA for beach replentishment. This is an ongoing thing and has to be refreshed every few years. I just don't see the sense in building right on a beach where nature will always have its way. My happiness is not fulfilled by being near or on the water. I'm in paradise among plants where I can mess a little with nature and she won't get too angry with me for doing it.

I even feel guilty sometime for living in what used to be part of the Everglades and formed a natural filter across South Florida all the up from the central part. But I came in after the draining and all the canals were dug. Now the filter is no longer functional and all kinds of mayhem is formed in the water with millions of fish and other aquatic life being killed by things like the red tide. It's a shame as to what we do to our planet under the guise of development.

Anyway, back to gingers. I'm trying to get more blue gingers myself. They are fussy little buggers and don't reproduce like other gingers I have. I really haven''t found the proper environment for them yet. Too much shade prevents bloom and too much sun burns them. The one bloom I had this year is surrounded by little plants just sitting there. I just added some magnesium sulfate (epsom salt) and 20-20-20 fertilizer. Maybe that will help for next year.

I just read up a little on this plant and found out that it's not really a ginger and can be grown from stem cuttings. Amazing what one can learn from a little reading. It also desires to be consistently moist. I guess that's been my problem as I have mine where the water is limited. Anyway, Logee's Greenhouses, Ltd. (Danielson, Connecticut) and Almost Eden Plants (Merryville, Louisiana) have this plant for sale. I guess it's native to Hawaii: Hawaiian Blue Ginger Root (Dichorisandra thyrsiflora) .

That Blue Ginger also likes a wee bit of iron from time to time, I am told. When I cut mine back I just lay the stalks on the ground and they root...but then we get a lot of rain here....