It’s been hard to keep up with the many plant shows. I just found out about the Miami Beach Botanical Garden Orchids and Art Festival, on May 3 and 4. It sounds terrific. They will have music, art and classes on orchids in a very well maintained botanical garden. I’m hoping to go!

The Kaempferia augustifolia gingers are coming back. I don’t see flowers on most of them, at least right now. I planted them is a shady area with rich soil which I try to keep moist.

The Kaempferia rotunda ‘Asian crocus’ announced the coming of spring, in late March, poking up their pinkish-purple flowers first, then their leaves. I hope more will follow. Curcuma candida is also an early riser, poking up in early April. All the other Curcumas seem to emerge much later in the summer. C. candida is distinctly different from other Curcumas, as the flowers are located at the base of the plant. It was considered a Kaempferia for decades.

My Kaempferia elegans (Satin checks) should be coming back real soon. I saw a few tightly wound spikes recently and I know the little fellows are waking up.

Not all my gingers are resurrection types (drop in the winter and come back in the spring). I have both Red Torch and White Torch gingers, which are doing great right now. They are different cultivars of Etlingera elatior and are common in SE Asia. I am shopping around for the pink variety also.

There are a lot of local names for torch ginger. Note, the entire plant is edible. It is used in many recipes in Thailand. I am particular interested in adding it to a fish stew. I hope to do a separate post on this topic. Red button ginger is edible. I mean the entire plant.

The Musa haekkinenii is also flowering now. It is in the Musaceae family which part of the Zingales order, so it’s related to gingers, but not a true ginger.

Finally, I was not been able to keep my Musella lasiocarpa alive. It produces a very beautiful flower as shown below. I really want to try again, but in this case, experiments can be expensive. I’ve seen it growing in more temperate climates.

Happy gardening,

Dave