Almost all of my gingers are in the ground. In southwest Louisiana, the soil is acidic and this is just right for gingers. I am growing hedychium, curcuma, costus, zingiber, globba, kaempferia and alpinia gingers, probably about 40 in all. My favorites are the ones currently blooming. Seriously, if you are looking for scent, the hedychiums are the best. If you are looking for unusual blooms, the zingibers are tops with their basal blooms. Curcumas (spiral gingers) are neat because of the spiral growth of the stems and Kaempferias (peacock gingers) are shade lovers and grown for the foliage mostly. In your zone, most of these gingers should do just fine. If you are ordering gingers from Hawaii, you should identify them because a lot of nurseries in Hawaii sell Alpinia Purpurata and they are not hardy outside of Zone 10. Once you learn the name, send me a private email and I will try to help you with them.

Steve