Week of October 31, 2021

Gingers serve as the backbone for our Florida Garden, providing lush and colorful foliage both as ground cover (peacock gingers) as well as banks of foundation plants (the tall pinecone and spiral gingers). They even show up in our kitchen with both kitchen ginger and Thai ginger root used in our Asian and dessert recipes. Another benefit provided by gingers is seasonal variety, as most species die back in the winter, especially after a frost, and some re-emerge very late in the spring (i.e. mid-June). This results in striking differences between our winter versus summer gardens. This seasonal change also applies to their blooming, with the autumn garden featuring color not only from variegated gingers’ colorful leaves, but also from white blossoms of shell and orchid gingers, and the bright red bloom structures of pinecone gingers. They are also easy to care for, save for several species’ tendency to spread. Their affinity for part or full shade makes them good partners with the winter-blooming camellias. No Florida garden should be without them.