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.
