Alpinia zerumbet (Ginger Lily)

Alpinia zerumbet (Ginger Lily)

Description

Alpinia zerumbet (Ginger Lily) is a large and dramatic landscape or a container plant is a varied shell ginger. The leaves are approximately 2 ft (0.6 m) long, and 6 in (15.2 cm) wide, with irregular green and yellow stripes. The habit is upright and requires no staking, just like some other members of the Zingiberaceae family. The flowers are white, rose and borne in large pendant arches. The flowers recall small seashells, which are commonly referred to as shell ginger. This Alpinia is root-resistant to zone 8, but only flowers in mature growth, so flowers are rarely seen except in areas without frost. Typically, shell ginger grows to approx. 6 ft (1.8 m) tall, which is not as large as non-variegated species (Alpinia zerumbet),which grows up to 12 ft (3.7 m) tall.  There is a dwarf variety, Alpinia zerumbet Variegata Dwarf, which grows to about 1 feet (0.3 meter) tall but has a similar variegated green and yellow foliage with white seashell flora. feet There is also a Variegatha cultivar, the Chinese beauty, which grows to 8 feet or (2.4 meter) high with light green and dark green marbled leaves.