Since the Shell Ginger started flowering I have been thinking about a kind of graphic vase, with a linear feel reflecting the leaves and shape of the flowers. The other idea floating around in my head, it should look like a bridal bouquet.. Stretching my imagination, I visualise a bride picking this up and walking down the aisle. She would have to be tall, thin and have a really good grip. Maybe there is engaged American basketball player out there somewhere..who loves pink and ginger….Thinking I forgot the trailing ribbons. Or the basketballs. My husband commented it looks like flames…
A closer view:
The vase…a vintage Dansk candleholder from the seventies, its mate lost to the sands of time. The flowers, in pink, Shell Ginger (Alpinia zerumbet), the white flowers, from my White Geiger tree (Cordia boissieri). The green foliage is from the Shell Ginger.
Thanks to Cathy at http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting this Monday. To see more vases from around the world, visit Cathy.
Happy (almost) Spring and Happy Gardening..
The Shrub Queen 
I test myself each week to see what flowers I recognize. I did not know what the white flowers were and I learned something new.
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Same here, I test to try something different. White Geigers are native to the Rio Grande, not sure they go as far north as you are..
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Haha, I like the analogy of a bridal bouquet and can visualise the player you suggest – and it’s definitely a wedding bouquet rather than flames! I wondered at first if your vase was a hyacinth vase, but then again perhaps MY similar hyacinth vase is really a candleholder…?! Thanks for sharing today
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Thanks, there’s a thought, that came from my husband who wouldn’t know one from another..I would like to try it for forcing bulbs.
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Ooh, I love it. I imagine shell ginger would make a lovely wedding bouquet, with or without ribbons. 😉
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Thanks, Eliza..I would have to get the ants out first!
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Does soaking under water work?
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not sure, smashing as they appear..thinking there is a florist thing to do.
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I read online that if you wait until evening to pick your flowers the ants will have all gone back to the nest. But end of the day isn’t the best time to cut flowers as they’ll wilt faster. So that leaves dawn… are you an early riser? 😉
I think I’ll just shake my peonies until all the ants fall off! I use the kitchen sink sprayer to wash aphids off the flowers I find them on like sweet peas. Darned insects!
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I am usually up early, but not cutting flowers! I wash the ants off outside if I seen them and have relocated a few spiders from my kitchen.
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Do the flowers have a scent? The structure and colouring of the ginger flowers are so exotic.
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There is a light gingery scent, I think it comes from the stems, though, when cutting the flowers it is like gingerbread. The plants look awful unless they are cut back 3 times a year.
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It is certainly the right shape for a bridal bouquet, and the pink and white flowers are very pretty. Love the ‘vase’ too!
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Thank you, Cathy
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Hey, I might get some shell ginger. I am not sure what it is, but it looks like variegated shell ginger. I only know that it was labeled as a ginger when it was purchased years ago. It has only been a foliage plant so far. It has been confined to a pot. We will put it in the ground now that we know it is happy in that spot. I will divide it a bit when we plant it.
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Same as the variegated that flowers very rarely..
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What? The variegated shell ginger rarely blooms? We figured that, whatever it is, it refrained from blooming because it was not happy in the pot. It is nice foliage, but bloom would be nice too.
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https://www.south-florida-plant-guide.com/variegated-ginger.html here’s a picture, the flower is not quite the same as the Shell Ginger.
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Oh gee; well, that’s it, or at least it looks like that. It is not as pretty as yours is. That is a bummer that it does not bloom much.
Now that I have the common kahili ginger, I want to try other gingers, and intend to get some when I go to Southern California. I should have payed more attention to them before.
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There are some crazy gingers out there!
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For decades, my colleague down south wanted to find blue ginger, but when he finally did, realized that it is not really a ginger at all.
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The mystical blue ginger..yeah.
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Mystical? Dichorisandra thyrsiflora
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I had one, it keeled over.
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Brent got two; one for his garden, and one for me . . . even though I am not as interested in it as he is. Neither survived for long.
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