Love Dr. Moy. I bought some 2 years ago but they did not come back up this year. They may not have survived that one cold winter.

They've been really great for me. I've had them for at least 4 years, and two of those were cold winters here. I just dumped a whole bag of wood chip mulch on them once the tops had died back, and they survived very nicely. Last winter it was so warm the leaves never even died back.

HEre's another ginger, but it's a real diva. Disappears at the first hint of cold and doesn't reappear until it's nice and warm again. Every year I think it's died.
Kaemferia 'Satin Checks'.

This one, Hedychium elliptica, also dies back in the winter, even for me. No fragrance but it is really lovely. Only about 4' tall.

These are pics of the 'Shampoo' ginger Zingiber zerumbet. I have had this plant in the landscape for two years, but this is the first time I have seen the "cones" form. The flowering cones are atop an 8" stalk, completely unlike my 'White Butterfly' gingers that grow atop 6-8' stalks. When you lightly squeeze the cone, it is filled with clear, water-like fluid, and the fluid has a nice ginger scent. This liquid is said to make a fine hair conditioner, which is where the name derives. The plants are up to 7' tall. I don't know whether there will be seeds associated with flowers.

Variegated Peacock Ginger (Kaempferia gilbertii), also known as Gilbert's Ginger. It disappears during winter, only to re-emerge in spring.

Oo, pretty little flowers on your Gilbert's ginger, Sandi! My Kaemferia does the disappearing act in winter, too.

Ken, the cones on your Zingiber zerumbet will turn red after the flowers are finished, and the red cones last quite a long time. So does the 'shampoo'. I've used it as insect repellent and hand lotion as well as put it on my hair. It works to keep the skeeters away for about half an hour, but in summer I'm rarely outside for more than that anyway. I have 8 big cones on 18in. stems this year - first time I've had so many so big, mainly due to the 15in of rain we had in June, I'm thinking. Here are mine, just turning red.

Lucky to have had a very mild winter in Houston. It kept the buds on the ginger. The very fragrant Hawaiian White Gingers are having a year! Whooo Hooo! I wish there was Smell-A-Vision for this. This is one of many more to come. I see many more buds!

Yes, I have one of those, sniff sniff sniff! I read it can be invasive, what a shame! It could invade my place all it wants! But I live on a hill that gets so dry.

I have them too. I don't find them invasive, but of course they do slow down here in winter, which they might not do where you are. They sort of "inch" their way along the top of the soil, and will form a nice big clump if you can give them a spot with lots of water. A big tub? Or plant them under a spot where the roof drains rainwater for them?

These orange ones smell the same as the white but not quite as strong. They're more vigorous than the white, and have variegated leaves that are sort of "splattered" with white streaks.
Hedychium 'Dr. Moy' clump, second pic is a sport with more variegation than usual.

Do any of these go dormant? They're all so amazing!

Mine didn't die back last year, although they don't bloom once the nights get cool, but we had a very mild winter. The two winters before, they died right back to the ground and I mulched them heavily to protect the rhizomes from cold.

Which ones went dormant Elaine? So many different genus let alone species I get Several local garden centers as well as the big box stores carry different gingers.

All my gingers will die back in a freeze and come back each spring. The trouble with that is that the new buds die along with them so the summer following a freeze we get great foliage but no flowers.
Last winter was very mild and there was little that died back. That's why the flowery ginger show is so nice this year. I have NOID shell ginger, white ginger, fragrant ginger, spiral ginger and a small variegated type from Brazil. The variegated shell ginger got hit really hard in our big freeze a few years back and have yet to regain the height they once were. But they are alive and well. I enjoy the foliage of gingers very much and they add so much to my yard. It is quite a bonus when they bloom.

Hm, I have curcumas, and all the hedychiums that die back once it's down int o the 30's for a few nights, and the little Peacock gingers - Kaemferia - are total divas and dive underground every winter, although they did reappear quite early this year. The alpinias seem to keep their leaves through thick and thin, as do the costus (spiral gingers). I just got a start of a blue ginger - dichorisandra? - so I don't know how tender it will be. The Pinecone gingers - zingiber zerumbet - die back to the ground every winter, too. They were spectacular this year with all the rain we had.

My yard is quite protected for winter, but we are at least a mile inland from the water, so I have nights every winter where I do cover things like my veggies to keep them from going dormant. Last winter only a couple of nights went below 40.

Looks like I have some new tropicals to test out. Thanks!

(Head slapping here) - the short answer, Evan, is that any of those gingers will go dormant for you so you can store them indoors for winter and bloom them outdoors where you are in summer. Some of them will be slow to bloom unless you start them early in a warm, sunny window, though. Most bloom here in partial shade, but the kaemferias bloom in full shade here. They like it really warm. All like lots of water.
Blue ginger not quite open, spiral ginger, butterfly ginger - hedychium 'Dr. Moy'

PInecone ginger, Peacock ginger, low growing gorgeous foliage, flowers bloom each morning, Variegated alpinia, or shell ginger is quite tall, blooms in spring fleetingly

White curcuma

Elaine, Thanks for posting your spiral ginger pic. I was given a nice tall spiral ginger a month ago and it is doing great in a pot with 3 new shoots. But nice to see the flower. Mine is supposed to be orange. Is your spiral also in part shade? I will keep it in a pot, bring it indoors this winter, since it is newly rooting for me.
Your Peacock Ginger is gorgeous!

Yes, the spiral gingers bloom best with morning sun or peeks of sun through tree branches through the day. If they're in full shade they won't bloom. Most of them do get quite tall, with those cool spiral stems. That one in the pic above is a little shorter, about 3ft. also variegated, with white on the leaves and purple leaf reverses. (I'll see if I can dig up a good pic of the foliage) the variegation on the leaves gets more pronounced in shadier conditions, but it doesn't bloom as well. So I have sections of it with variegations, and some parts without.

The Peacock Ginger acts like a groundcover here. It spreads by stolons underground, and the leaves lie almost flat to the ground so it is very low. This habit displays the pretty leaves nicely. Sometimes you'll see it sold as a foliage plant at nurseries in pots, with the leaves all crammed together vertically, in fact I got mine in a pot like that and divided it into about 6 different clumps.

I just looked up the Blue Ginger - Dichorisandra Thyrsifolia - in Plant Files on DG and it is actually not a real ginger. It is a Tradescantia. Still, it says it will make a good house plant. Both the foliage and the flowers sure look like gingers to me.

Thanks for all the great information Elaine.