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Monday, October 19, 2009

Beehive Ginger - Zingiber Spectabile



These are growing near my place, near a so-called park which is poorly or not managed.
This is where I found the Bleeding Heart Vine (in my last posting).
Somehow, these Beehive Ginger look so enchanting.

I manage to take 3 cuttings of these flowers (all those you see in these pictures) for a floral decoration for Deepavali in my in-laws house. I also took the Heliconia & Canna lilies flowers from there (Jinjang Stroll) and set a beautiful floral arrangement. (Then I realise I had forgotten to take my camera as I was rushing to go there)

A little info. about this plant. This is a native plant in Malaysia known as Tepus Tanah.
When I inspected this plant, I checked the spend flowers which seemed to turn soggy and rotten.
I realise that these flowers retain water in them that may encourage mosquitos & leeches to breed inside them. When I cut these flowers, I felt a hollow feeling of water swirling inside the flower. This plant seemed to do so well in shady area. As they are totally under a very covered tree.

But somehow with all these setback, they truly make a lovely cut flower arrangement.

Later in the evening, I came back to take the picture of the park with children playing and the surrounding area. I found a lot of pruned bougainvilla branches which I planted recent (last posting) and found the parent plant at the back portion of the park.
These branches were littered here.
(at the last picture - where I also collected reed orchid branches - about 20 of them - hehehe)

You can also notice a hill just at the background.
That is the famous Batu Caves Hill right in front of my housing area.

My Deepavali was very exhausting visiting family & friends, having a heartily meal & turning down most of the heavy meals for a light drink and cookies. It seemed to be more relaxing to go to work then being free for this weekend. (both my wife & I agree on that fact for this weekend)

With all the air-bombs & explosion..
oh sorry - firecrackers burnt..
Tt was very difficult for my 8 month old baby to sleep and
more irritating when those are inconsiderate burn these loud crackers
even at 2am - 3am in the morning. (Morons!!!!)
I'm sure many would have cursed them instead of receiving a blessing on a deepavali day.
They are so brainless! (ok.. enough curses for this auspicious day)










18 comments:

Stephanie said...

Those beehives have really made my wedding floral arrangements outstanding :-). I like this plant. I wonder if they need deep soil. This playground has really runned down. Good that they still have some nice plants like the bougainvilleas. Btw, I think firecracker is in trend this time for Deepavali. Over here, they are making lots and lots of noise in the midnight too.

Sue said...

Interesting flower-it looks like a pinecone.

Chloe m said...

So Mosquitoes breed inside of these? How strange.
I hope you get some better sleep tonight.
Very cool post about Beehive ginger. Sue is right, it is similiar to pinecone in appearance.
Rosey

VW said...

The ginger is exotic and beautiful. Our neighbors are from India and were celebrating Deepavali a few days ago. It sounded like fun!

Mary Delle LeBeau said...

Loved those Beehive flowers. They look so unusual. You are so practical, getting cuttings from so many places to start your plants.

Jan said...

This is the second year I have grown this ginger in my garden, and this year was the first time I saw the cones. This is truly a wonderful plant, and I can't wait until next year when it blooms again.

Jan
Always Growing

James David said...

Steph - It sure look exotic & enchanting in having it for a wedding floral arrangement. I suppose they correspond like any other ginger plant as they may not do so well as potted plants.

Sue - they sure does, probably may arrange them with pinecones for christmas deco. (thanks for the idea)

Rosey - I noticed a swamp of mosquito was buzzing around my face when I cut these flowers. I guess they manage to breed inside the bracket as there are pockets which may hold water.

VW - I guess all ginger plant flowers do look exotic, like the shell ginger (look like orchids) and torch ginger and common ginger.

Mary Delle - Thanks, I guess there are a lot of plants here been bought & dumped when they become dormant. Why buy when you can get it free, care for them and they will bloom gloriously.

Jan - you have this plant? Great! There are many variety & different species of this kind. Hope you manage to get few varieties to compliment each other. Came to know that they can last very long as cut flowers too.

Blossom said...

I believe I have the same thing at home. Somehow my computer doesn't wanna paste the link - sometimes it does a crazy thing like that. Anyway, it's somewhere at Blossom Blooms.

julian said...

I guess the ginger plants need the water, which is why they the ability to collect it.

I agree about the fireworks, there are also people setting them off in the middle of the night here >:[

James David said...

Blossom - lovely plant isn't it. May check out and see how's your plant doing.

Julian - I agree with you - not sure whether that water comes from the rain or from inside the plant. Well, finally the fireworks is over.
(but still feeling sleepy after so many sleepless nights)

Stephanie said...

Yeah ok if only I have a super big pot :-(

J.J. Cedar Glader said...

Oh i love ginger! wish i could grow them here-

Hortist said...

James very nice post, the alternanthra we have is different than you have in malaysia, perhaps the different cultivar....anyway, nice post with nice pics, keep it up :)

James David said...

J.J. - I admire your conservative work in Cedar Glades.
I guess gingers don't grow there as they are tropical plants but plants like those orchids, roses and many floral plants that never managed to survive in hot climates like here are very much coveted & envied by me.

Hortist - I would be very interested to see those joyweed too which grows in your place.
Hope to hear more from you too.

janie said...

I have that ginger in my garden, but we do call it 'pinecone ginger'.

I didn't realize how many tropical plants we grow here. We are in zone 9a, very hot and humid in summer- like from March to October 15th or so- and quite mild winters. We do get freezing temps here, but I have grown to dislike covering everything in the garden, so I don't do it anymore. That which is fragile goes in the greenhouse, what is in the ground had better be tough. I don't think I have lost a plant to frost for over 5 years.

Sorry to go on and on. I enjoyed your post.

James David said...

Janie - thanks for sharing, good to know that this plant can handle winter. And please, do go on & on. Its nice to know what you think.

Anonymous said...

Hi! I'm having these young beehive buds and I'm really excited to plant these. The problem is I'm not really oriented on how to take care of these. Could you give me some advice on how to take care of these plant? Thanks. :)

James David said...

They love shade and keep the soil moist but not overwatered as they are a root-based plant.
Other than that - they are quite hardy.

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Tropical Garden, Batu Caves, Malaysia
My Malaysian Tropical Garden mainly focused on unique and colorful plants ranging from rare to common plants all around the tropical belt across the world. Ideal for inspiration for challenging areas in the garden space - indoor gardening, balcony gardening and small green spaces especially for ariods, bromeliads, begonias, edibles, cascading & vertical garden plants, succulents & cacti, orchids, together with both shade and sun loving plants.

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