Thursday, February 19, 2009

Growing White Torch Ginger


I purchased these great seeds for the white torch ginger, Etlingera elatior, on ebay from the organic seed seller eco_oasis. http://www.ebay.com/ They still have these seeds if you are interested. I have never seen this exact flower in white, even though we used to live in Hawaii. I have only seen the reds, pinks and burgundies in the "torch" ginger family. We do grow the white butterfly gingers and the orange kahili gingers for their wonderfully fragrant flowers. As most of you would know they have to be brought in here, as they are a tropical plant, during the winter months.

The white torch ginger has waxy petals and everyone has said they are gorgeous and can reach 7 feet in the tropics. Germination is slow. Anywhere from 20 days to 8 weeks. I am soaking the seeds overnight and they are already plump. It could be awhile before my little plants bloom, but I will do alot of caregiving and watching over in the meantime. Nurture. Nurture. Nurture. Exciting.


What is going on outside? Ella one of our lambs is all smiles. The sheep know that soon warm weather will be here and green grass and sweet clover (which grows all on it's own without our nurturing!) will be abundant...and that they will not be allowed near my seedlings and garden! For now they play in the snow that appears and vanishes almost every day.

1 comment:

Rowena said...

I'm anxious to see how they do, given the germination time. Torch gingers are gorgeous but I never grew them in Hawaii, only ti leaf plants!