Tim: Interesting that Zingiber mioga doesn't like your summers, since they thrive in summers here, flowering wonderfully in September. I'm wondering if they don't get enough winter chill there, so that they lack the energy to make it through the entire summer. For us, the more days over 100 F and the higher the humidity, the faster they grow. We have also discovered one exception to the alpina needing old wood to flower...Alpinia aquatica. This 10' giant dies totally to the ground and always reflowers the following summer. I showed this to Tom Wood last year when he was here, after a winter low of 7 degree F and he was shocked to see it flowering well. For those that don't know Alpinia aquatic, it is a vigorous spreader with rhizomes of 3" in diameter. Tony Avent Plant Delights Nursery @ Juniper Level Botanic Garden 9241 Sauls Road Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 USA Minimum Winter Temps 0-5 F Maximum Summer Temps 95-105F USDA Hardiness Zone 7b email tony@plantdelights.com website http://www.plantdelights.com/ phone 919 772-4794 fax 919 772-4752 "I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself...at least three times" - Avent -----Original Message----- From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of tim@gingerwoodnursery.com Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2010 11:48 AM To: Pacific Bulb Society Subject: Re: [pbs] Ginger - Zingiber - also Cautleya Most Alpinia bloom on 16+ month old stems, with the exception of A. galanga. Any of the hardy alpinia that get frozen back will not bloom that year. A. galanga is the only species that I know of that blooms consistently every year. We almost always have winter freezes here (zone 8). A few very hardy species can normally make it through winter without being forced dormant if there are only light freezes (A. pumila, A. japonica, and A. formosana can take 28F or so and not show much damage. These often bloom in zone 8). Z. mioga is not that fond of our hot summers, so it is usually the first to sprout here and first to bloom. Its also the first to go dormant, usually by mid summer. My plants came from British Columbia of all places, where they were a weed in my friend veggie garden. The variegated forms don't seem to do well here at all. The variegated Z. zerumbet is also a little picky here compared to the standard form that thrives. The patterned Z. collinsii and the variegated Z. montanum do much better for me. Tim Chapman > Aaron, when you write " Strangely enough, Alpinia zerumbet has > wintered for two years as a deciduous plant, thus making it not worth > growing." > > Does that mean that the sprouts have to be more than one season old to > bloom (I have not grown this plant so I don't know its habits)? > > > Kaempferia rotunda survived near a wall here for years, but I don’t > think it ever bloomed. Hedychium coronarium can be grown as a garden > plant here, too. > > > > Jim McKenney > jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com > Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, > USDA zone 7, where the temperature this morning was 40 degrees F lower > than recent daytime highs (we've already topped 100). > My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! > http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ > > Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin > http://www.pvcnargs.org/ > > Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/ > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >