In My Mother’s Garden: Red Ginger in Hawaii
Red Ginger After the Felicia Tropical Storm Showers in My Mother's Garden
NOTE: DoT has been posting from Honolulu since late July when she left California to help her mother through some medical procedures. She will be doing so until she can return to Orange County.
Top View of Red Ginger Plant in Bloom
DoT’s Thot: “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountain is going home; that wildness is necessity; that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.” — John Muir
Muir Woods did inspire me in the same way — my mother’s garden along the mountain side in Palolo Valley has also always seemed like a small trek into the wilderness. Wherever she could squeeze a plant in, in it went. Now that I am waiting for her surgery date, I go outside to take photos in my mother’s garden and share them with you.
Red Ginger Plants Sprouting from Between the Bracts of the Red Ginger Flowers
Red Ginger
One of the long-time residents in my mother’s garden has been the red ginger. It is hardy, a steady bloomer, and provides blossoms that are useful for tropical bouquets and for memorial offerings in the house or at the “haka” or graveyard. The beautiful red hue and stately, simple shape make this a highly desirable flowering plant in any garden scene in Hawaii.
As the plants mature, some of the red ginger blossoms will sprout young ginger plants from between the red bracts of the red ginger flowers. Mother reports that these can be planted to start more red ginger plants. Alas, I do not live in Hawaii and so cannot take these home to plant in my yard in California.
Red Samoan Ginger -- Bunching Ginger
Samoan Ginger: a Red, Bunching Ginger
A newer variety of red ginger that grows in my mother’s garden is what she introduced to me as a Samoan Red Ginger. It is much fuller and resembles a kind of tight bunching of the red ginger described above. It has a very heavy and full head of red bracts in a conical or “Christmas tree” shape.
Samoan Red Ginger Detail Showing White Bud and White Blossom
Actual Red Ginger Flowers are Modest, White
The real flowers are actually some very small and modest white blossoms among the red bracts. I have included a closeup so you can see them. Standing among the stalks of red ginger, I remember my childhood and the many occasions that these blossoms found their way into our home or as gifts to family and friends.
Aloha, DoT
Related Articles and References:
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- Prosopis pallida: kiawe, keawe, algaroba, mesquite by Kim and Forest Starr
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