We are all familiar with the cooking ginger (Zingiber officinale). Many of us have tried taking a piece of the rhizome and planting in a pot of soil. But not many of us have seen its flowers.
Whilst I was at World Farm a few weeks ago, I stumbled on a couple of pots of ginger that were flowering. The entire green, cone-shaped thing you see in the picture below is the inflorescence. Those little bits of yellow that are peeking out are the true flower buds. The inflorescence actually emerges out from the ground. The true flowers actually do not last a long time.
So the next logical question anyone may ask will be what is the trigger for the cooking ginger to bloom. I do not know the answer. The pot which this ginger sits in is small, but I wonder how large is the rhizome below the soil, which is an indication of the maturity of the plant.
It could also be the growing conditions of this ginger. It is happily located in a shaded, cooler and humid part of the nursery. It must not be grown in a windy area or a place exposed to direct sun or has low humidity. All these factors will cause the leaves to burn and dry out.
