I love this "ginger". I grow it next to butterfly ginger - they bloom around the same time, and I love the combo of blue and white..Beautiful plant.

Olya

This is hardy up to zone 8. You don't have to worry about it. If it goes down it comes right back up. Mine is 7-8 ft tall at the moment and in full bloom

bihai...That's good news...thanks.
Olya...thanks alot! Now I need a Butterfly as well! LOL

Could someone post a picture of these gingers, the full plant rather than just the bloom? I'd like to see what they look like (size and such) from a distance.

I will...lemme run downstairs and take a shot.

The entire plant...a bit over 3' tall.

Close-up of leaf and blossom structure.

Thanks for the picture, lellie. I like the beautiful dark green foliage.

Lellie, yours is the pendulous one. There is another, more upright form. Both are lovely. I love the foliage on yours also. Just as pretty as the flower to me.

I have not had luck with this plant. Withers away for me. I only have a cutting left that I put in a pot now, and it is just doing ok. Have not figured out why they don't like my garden. Sighhhh.

Ana

Lellie, yours is gorgeous
Mine is a bit different...
Here is the picture...though, the color got a bit messed up - it is more blue than purple

Do you want to trade the two? I am also planning on dividing one butterfly ginger - a friend wants a piece, but I could save a piece for you too :)
Olya

Mine is 'the pendulum type'?
Hmmmmmmmmmm...didn't know there were different types...didn't see that when I researched it.
I wonder if the culture is the same?
The tag that came on it says Alpinia purpurata..."ginger" and has a picture of the gingers we all know and love...and it shows the bloom as red.
This one was, as I said, already in bloom, so I knew it was purple.
It looks nothing like the tag, though, but I just ignored it. (the tag). :)

Olya...I'm in!
Now if I can just figger out how to root it...LOLAM

I did not know you can take cuttings from gingers.
Do you treat the cuttings as with other plants, dipping it in rooting hormone?

Felix

Lellie, I've never seen that variety, either. The ones I'm familiar with look like Olya's picture. They grow those at the Butterfly Rainforest in Gainesville as a nectar plant.
I've been planning to try some.

Marcia

Lellie,

"Blue Ginger" is not really a ginger. It is related to plants in the Spiderwort family. The upright variety is Dichorisandra thyrsiflora and the pendulous variety is D. pendula.

Anna, I seem to lose my blue ginger also, so it is not just you. I have four cuttings that I took to insure I would not lose it, but the main plant looks like hell now. I have the pendulous form too, it is in the shade, and doing ok, but I would not say it is thriving. The normal form is very easy by cuttings, but I have not tried the other yet. Felix, some gingers do well by cuttings, especially the costus.

Bill

I have both types, thrysifolia and pendula. Pendula will spread "out" and eventually get about 5-6 ft tall and has much more slender canes than thrysifolia, which can get very tall.

Oh..............so I might lose the thing once it's in the ground?
I wonder...should I grow it in a large pot, then?
It's so pretty, I'd hate for it to not thrive.
*sigh!

bihai...when you say 'spread out', do you mean it's invasive or it just sprawls?

bo...I thought its blooms resembled the good ol' Tradescantia virginiana I grew up north, along with anderson 'Osprey' and 'Red Cloud'...I loved those plants!...although they all spread, which, for me, was a good thing. LOLAM

Mine sprawls, and, if it leans over enough to touch the ground, it can root spontaneously and send up new shoots, kinda like those big big blue salvias will.

Ana, I can't grow it either. It just withers away. Maybe we are too hot for too long a time. Just a guess.

This a picture of my Blue Ginger, I was told it is related to Wandering Jew. Don't know if that is a politically correct name.

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Forgot to add that this Blue Ginger has been growing here for three years, It is about 2 foot high and just about the same wide.

Oh for Heaven's sake!
One more plant to add to my 'want' list...I've gotta get a second job!
LOLAM

That's really pretty!

Lellie, mine is the same as what tomkaren posted...I will start a cutting this weekend for you..
Olya

Olya...you're the bomb-biggity.

If there's anything I can start for you...just let me know.

your ginger :)
Olya

Oh! LOL...duh!

I have the same "ginger" that Tomkaren posted a picture of, I'm in west Bradenton and have had it for years planted in the ground and don't give it protection in the winter. The only problem I have is keeping the lizard-hunting dogs away from it as it tends to be a little brittle. The broken pieces root very readily, even in water although I usually put them in potting soil. I have rooted pieces all over.

Suzanne