They are just about to sprout in zone 8, and you are in zone 6. It will probably be much longer before they sprout for you. Soil temperature stimulates breaking dormancy. Dormant gingers are generally the very last perennials to sprout, even in warmer zones. You would probably have better look trying to grow some in a large pot that can be stored dry indoors somewhere. they won't survive outside, and if you break up the rhizomes too much while digging them to store indoors, they'll probably never get mature enough to bloom. there are some dwarf varities that are easier to deal with though.

tim chapman

Thanks so much for letting me know mine still has a chance....I put some outside and I have a few pieces inside just in case...I hope it grows. I had no idea ginger could be so pretty..

I'm just down the road from Tim and my pinecones just stared putting up shoots this weekend in a bed that gets full sun until midafternoon. The ones in a bed that gets only partial sun until midafternoon followed by shade haven't warmed up enough, yet.

Thanks for answering this question. I also planted some about a month ago and they haven't come up yet. I was wondering if I was watering them enough. We are still having cool nights and warm days,mid 70's.

Sharon

As I mentioned in another post, I think people are often surprised at the very slow response of some tropical plants to warmer weather and better growing conditions, when the plants are trying to break dormancy, and it often take s good month of "sustained " warm soil conditions for them to finally break their dormancy. After that the same thing is true for the topgrowth as well, so if you don't have summers with constant warm days and nights, the topgrowth can be exceedingly slow, and you're unlikely to see flowering before it's time to return the plants back to the indoors for the fall. I say for the "fall" since indeed if you want them to succeed you may want to grow them yearound and not encourage dormancy for some varieties. If you leave them outdoors late into the fall and subject them to cool tmeperatures , they may indeed go dormant for the rest of their winter storage period. Not all benefit from an "unatural" imposed dormant period, and they may fail to perform in the future.