shell gingers

So, I often buy rhisomes when I see them for sale cheaply. There is a guy who sells gingers and other rhisomes at the plant sales for only $1.00 or 2.00 depending on the kind. Island Stylin Nursery is the name of the company, and he does a whale of a business, 1 or 2 dollars at a time. He also has lots of potted plants of the same types for sale for the lowest prices. Do I sound like a satisfied customer? I have been buying from him for years, at USF and at GreenThumb. I never know what I am buying - by choice - so it is a surprise when the plants grow and flower.

Why am I mentioning this now? Well, I was very surprised to see one of my ginger clusters finally starting to bloom after a 3 year wait! It's a shell ginger, which is no surprise as the leaves give that away, but I was beginning to think it was a non-flowering variety. What a nice surprise to smell this sweet frangrance coming from the cluster that normally smells like cardamon. I wouldn't have been upset if it didn't flower since the cluster is very well shaped and stays neat, and of course has that very herbal smell when ruffled through. The flowers are a very pleasant addition. This is my second shell ginger and I now know that it is alpinia zerumbet. Knowing what type of ginger this is is quite an advantage. I will have to move it since they can grow into a very big clump which will need to be thinned out often if I keep it as is.

My other shell ginger is a dwarf shell. It also started as a rhisome from Island Stylin, and was a fast grower and bloomer, but without the herbal and sweet smell from the plant. It is very pretty to look at as foliage, and the flowers clusters are very attractive. I am anxious to see what else they have to offer this year so I can enlarge my knowledge of these wonderful gingers.