Xmas Gingers

What with a bit of time off to wander around garden centres and Christmas I managed to pick up four new gingers over the last couple of weeks. I managed to get a Beehive Ginger (Zingiber Spectabile) and a Silver Streaks (Zingiber Collinsii) both have gone into the back garden and are shaded by existing plants.

The Silver Streaks has beautiful dark foliage and I can't wait to see what the flowers look like up close. From the tag and other information it appears that it become dormant in winter. Grows to about 1 metre and is planted behind a golden cane palm. I'm hoping that as the palm grows that it will be more visible but still have adequate shade.

I've been looking for a Beehive Ginger for a while and have finally managed to get my hands on one. I'm still after a chocolate version. This one has been planted out with a little more exposure and is already produced a second shoot.

I purchased a Variegated Shell Ginger (Alpinia zerumbet) and have added it to the southern extension to the back garden.

For Christmas my Mum got me a Red Torch Ginger (Etlingera elatior) from an garden that my parents visited as part of the open garden scheme. This one when in the northern extension of the back garden. From what I've read the foliage can grow anywhere from 3 to 6 metres (it's already at about 1.5) so I'll have to see how it goes. From photos I've seen the flowers are spectacular.

2012 Ginger Flower Festival Yandina

Visited the Ginger Factory at Yandina today for the 2008 Ginger Flower Festival. When we pulled up at around 11:30 the carpark was full as will both sides of the street and centre strip. I can't imagine what it is going to be like over the (long) weekend! There were quite a few people there but it wasn't uncomfortably crowded. It was quite easy to move around and see everything.

There was a number of talks where you could hear about cooking, health benefits, and growing gingers, though I didn't attend any of these. I stuck my head into a cooking session but it was overflowing.

Aside from the talks the festival is a great opportunity to view the fantastic sub-tropical gardens that make up the grounds of the Ginger Factory and at this time of the year most of the gingers and heliconias are in bloom.

The festival also features a nursery selling a large selection of gingers and heliconias, with a smattering of palms. A lot of the plants where in flower and if they weren't cut flowers were arranged so you see what they looked like. I picked up a Heliconia Caribea, Ice Rose Ginger (Etlingera elatior) and Red Tower Ginger (Costus Comosus). (this was quite restrained compared to some others at the checkout)

Here are some pictures from the gardens:

Chocolate Beehive Ginger

Red Torch Ginger
Heliconias

Roma Street Parklands

Dropped into the Roma Street Parklands last Saturday (19/1). The gardens are a real inspiration with the Spectacle Garden with it's palms, gingers, heliconicas and bromeliads all putting on a fantastic summer display.

Beehive Ginger (Zingiber Spectabile)

Bromeliads

New ginger, old ginger and leafy greens

Bought a new ginger today, Red Tower (Costus barbatus) and have put in the back boundary garden. According to the label it gets to 2-3 meters so it should provide a bit of mid height structure and provide some shade to the lower levels.

Noticed that the last two seasonal gingers (dormant during winter) in the lower (south) garden have sent their shoots up.

These are Siam Platinum (Smithatris Supraneenae) and what I believe to be a Curcuma roscoeana.

The Voodoo Magic (Curcuma) has been up for a number of weeks. I split the rhizome in September and potted half which shot with a flower before any foliage.

Set some seeds in seed trays for some lettuce, rocket, pad choy and basil which should be ready for planting out in 2-3 weeks.

Hundscheidt Tropical Gardens

The Hundscheidt Tropical Gardens are open over this weekend (22-24 February) as part of the Australian Open Garden Scheme. I visited them yesterday afternoon and it was worth the drive. There were quite a few people there , but not so it was difficult to see or to move around.

The gardens are amazing. You have to remember that you are in the middle of suburbia and not in some topical paradise. The gardens feature water features, pavilions and balaliness inspired outdoor areas as well as bamboos, gingers , palms and bromeliads.

New shoots Ginger and Heliconia

Discovered today that there are new shoots on the Lobster Claw Heliconia (Heliconia Rostrata) and the Ginger (I think these are Shell Ginger Alpinia zerumbet) in the new garden along the back boundary.

The Heliconia was initially in the bed along the southern side of the house but it wasn't getting enough sun and the wind was damaging the leaves. It's had several new leaves but this is the first new shoot.

The Ginger is from rhizome off cuts from my mothers garden and have been in for approximately a month. They have had a number of new leaves but these are the first new shoots.