🫚 Ginger (Ornamental)
Alpinia / Hedychium spp.
Tropical drama with flowers that look designed by someone showing off.
Sun
Part shade to full sun
Days to harvest
Perennial; blooms summer through fall
Spacing
24-36 inches apart
Soil pH
6.0-7.0
How to grow
Plant rhizomes in spring, 2 inches deep in rich, well-drained soil — ornamental gingers want the same warmth as their edible cousin but are grown for jaw-dropping flowers. Shell ginger (Alpinia) and butterfly ginger (Hedychium) are Florida landscape staples, evergreen in zone 10+. Mulch heavily; in zone 9, expect dieback in hard freezes with regrowth from the rhizomes in spring.
Water & feeding
Water regularly; they love humidity and consistent moisture but not waterlogged crowns.
Common problems
- Ginger weevils boring into rhizomes — destroy affected rhizomes.
- Leaf spot in very wet conditions.
- Freeze damage — mulch and site near walls for warmth.
Harvest
Cut flower spikes when fully open for spectacular tropical arrangements; remove spent blooms to keep the clump tidy.
Nerdy fact: Ornamental gingers and edible ginger are in the same family (Zingiberaceae) as turmeric and cardamom — it's the spice-rack family reunion, and everybody brought flowers.