Blooming ginger


This is a momentous occasion. Three long years I've waited for this and now, as summer draws to a close, there it is. A flower on my ginger.

But that isn't all, because the other ginger is flowering too, and it's October tomorrow, which doesn't make it particularly unusual in ginger terms, but it is a bit late coming out, seeing as it could have flowered any time from July.

Now it has at last flowered, I have a better chance of discovering what type of ginger I have planted. According to the August edition of Gardens Illustrated, it could be any one of four very similar (to a heathen like me) types.

It will be either:

A) Hedychium 'Gold Flame' - an American hybrid, vigorous grower with highly perfumed flowers

B) Hedychium Coccineum - Popular species, variable, but always tall, and holder of an award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society

C) Hedychium Coccineum 'Tara' - Originating from seed collected in Nepal, up to 2m tall

D) Hedychium Coccineum var. Aurantiacum - Among the largest of the hedychiums, with stems up to 2.5m

I kind of hope that my gingers are 'C'. I like the idea of a plant from a seed that comes from Nepal, kind of goes with the tropical nature of the garden, although I expect they all originated from that part of the world.

I'll get a better picture on here when the next one flowers. Closer inspection has revealed it's past its prime.

Let me know if you can provide positive identification

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