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Scent of the tropics in Sacramento

Cold-hardy ginger varieties right at home in NorCal

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED SEP 9, 2020

This is the blossom of white ginger, a perennial which enjoys undisturbed shady spots. (Photos: Debbie Arrington)

Every Labor Day, my garden smells like a tropical paradise – and looks the part, too.

The reason? The ginger is back in bloom again.

Blooming from late August into November, some varieties of this reliable perennial perform extremely well in Sacramento. Members of the Hedychium genus, these varieties are native to the Himalayas and can take some winter cold. They also enjoy undisturbed shady spots, and there are plenty of those in my mature landscape.

We have just enough winter cold for these perennials to die back each December, which keeps them under control. In tropical climates, they’re considered invasive species.

Growing up to 6 feet tall, the lanky plants tend to flop over unless supported. They need only average irrigation (once a week) and are relatively pest-free. Thriving on neglect, they love spots under my Japanese maples and in between shrubs in my photinia hedge.

Their rhizomes look like bearded iris – or the ginger root in grocery stores. (But consumption of these varieties is not advised; culinary ginger – which is not as cold-hardy – is Zingiber officinale .) Instead of food, these varieties are grown for their intense fragrance.

Oh, how they perfume the evening air! Mixed with the Delta breeze, it’s a breath of Hawaii.

These ginger plants came with our house; they were planted more than 30 years ago by the former owner, a native of Hawaii. They made her feel at home.

Now, I can close my eyes and pretend I’m far away on a tropical island. (It’s as close as I’ll get to a Hawaiian vacation this summer.)

Kahili ginger has huge blooms that entice hummingbirds.

The most spectacular of these gingers is yellow Kahili ginger, Hedychium gardnerianum . It looks like a spectacular feather headdress with long red-orange stamens popping out of bright yellow blooms, arranged in a tall column. The flowers often are 8 to 10 inches tall and look regal in the garden or a vase.

Hummingbirds can’t get enough of these huge blooms, working down the column and collecting nectar.

Much more numerous in my garden is white ginger, Hedychium coronarium . A native of India, Nepal and China, this forest ginger grows like a weed. (It’s considered a serious invasive plant in Hawaii.) In China, its aromatic oil is used as a folk remedy.

African slaves, who used ginger leaves as mattresses, introduced white ginger to South America and the Caribbean. White ginger, also known as mariposa or butterfly flower, is the national flower of Cuba.

Tourists often bring home small ginger roots from Hawaii or other tropical areas; give them time and they will bloom. For us mainlanders, these gingers are available from tropical plant specialty nurseries such as Kanoa Hawaii ( www.kanoahawaii.com ).

Treat these gingers like bearded iris, planting the rhizomes just below the surface. One established, they’ll put on a fragrant flower show September after September, creating your own little slice of tropical paradise.

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gardening hummingbirds Sacramento fragrance tropical plants perennials

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Garden Checklist for week of July 21

Your garden needs you!

* Keep your vegetable garden watered, mulched and weeded. Water before 8 a.m. to reduce the chance of fungal infection and to conserve moisture.

* Feed vegetable plants bone meal, rock phosphate or other fertilizers high in phosphate to stimulate more blooms and fruiting. (But wait until daily high temperatures drop out of the 100s.)

* Don’t let tomatoes wilt or dry out completely. Give tomatoes a deep watering two to three times a week.

* Harvest vegetables promptly to encourage plants to produce more. Squash especially tends to grow rapidly in hot weather. Keep an eye on zucchini.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushy plants and more flowers in September.

* Remove spent flowers from roses, daylilies and other bloomers as they finish flowering.

* Pinch off blooms from basil so the plant will grow more leaves.

* Cut back lavender after flowering to promote a second bloom.

* It's not too late to add a splash of color. Plant petunias, snapdragons, zinnias and marigolds.

* From seed, plant corn, pumpkins, radishes, winter squash and sunflowers.

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