etlingera tulip

The only place to see this lovely Etlingera is at the Singapore Botanic Garden's Ginger Gardens. It can be found blooming occasionally behind the waterfall.

As the name says, the Tulip Torch Ginger has an unusual tulip-shaped inflorescence. The bracts of the inflorescence are closely packed when young, giving the distintive tulip shape. As they mature, they spread out to reveal its red petals with yellow markings on the top edges. Each red, wax-like inflorescence, grows on its own stalk, which can reach a height of 2 feet, making it perfect as a cut flower.
The foliage is dark green, which adds to the ornamental beauty of this ginger. In addition, the leaves release a strong ginger scent when crushed.

A fabulous tropical specimen plant, Tulip Torch Gingers can reach a height of 6-10 feet. If grown in full sun, they will be shorter and vice versa if grown in shade They can be successfully grown in a large container in full sun. They should be planted in full sun to part shade in rich, moist, well-drained soil. They need a tropical climate or warm greenhouse.

etlingera elatior red

Etlingera burttii

Another rare ginger which can only be found in SBG's Ginger Gardens, the Etlingera burttii is a large ginger with a creeping rhizome that gives rise to leafy shoots which reach to a height of over 7 m (23 ft.) tall. Each shoot holds up to 30 large leaves that can grow to 100 cm (40 in.) long and 20 cm (8 in.) wide. The inflorescence sits on the ground and holds numerous, densely clustered, yellow flowers with a red stigma. The shooths and the fruits are edible. Tubu Ligan is native to Sabah and Sarawak on the island of Borneo, where it grows in montane forest to about 1500 m (4900 ft.).

jungle king

The Jungle King aka red ginger or Alpinia purpurata remains one of the most popular and beautiful gingers of all time, given the striking colour and showy size of its blooms. Although immensely popular with gardeners and seen in many tropical gardens the world over, I find this ginger difficult to grow. For some reason, they "downsize" under my care, to the point where it shrinks into oblivion. According to various literature, this ginger, like most other gingers, prefer fertile, organically rich, well-drained soil. It can thrive in full sun to bright broken light. I grew mine in a mixture of compost and mixed soil, so surely that does constitute "fertile, organically rich" soil. Then again, I noticed that nurseries usually grow them and other zingiberacae in very "clayey" soil. I guess i'll have to continue experimenting until I get the right mix.

siam tulip

Curcumas are sometimes referred to as the `hidden ginger lily` primarily because of the lush, dense foliage that surrounds the blooms. The blooms come in a wide array of color and sizes and make for excellent cut flowers as they can last as long as two weeks. The most common variety is Curcuma Alismatifolia ‘Siam Tulip’ which is a wonderful pinky mauve that blooms all summer long.

Curcumas bloom spring, summer or fall depending on variety. This beautiful attractive dwarf species is a native of Thailand. It has long narrow pale green/blue stiff leaves and produces a pale purple/pink inflorescence on terminal spike, which can be used as cut flower. Curcumas are herbaceous perennials from Indochina, South East Asia, the Pacific Islands and northern Australia. They have broad, veined leaves, and small, brightly coloured flowers which emerge from large bracts. The flowers range in colour from white to pink, orange and shades of violet. The flower spikes last for several weeks. Curcumas die down in winter and re-emerge in spring, much like bulbs do.

Etlingera

I remember being in awe of the stunning red torch ginger (Etlingera elatior, red form) when I saw it for the first time at the Singapore Botanic Gardens many years ago. Its sceptre like inflorescence was quite unlike any flower I had seen before. I was even more amazed when I found out that the pink form (bunga kantan) is in fact the aromatic ingredient commonly used in rojak and assam.

Etlingeras are a genus of evergreen rhizomatous herbs belonging to the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. Although some 100 species of etlingera have been discovered, mostly near the equator, the most widely cultivated and therefore common species has to be the bunga kantan, which is grown and harvested for both the commercial cut flower industry as well as a culinary ingredient. The inforescence of Etlingeras can vary considerably, from the showy sceptre like inforescences of the Etlingera elatior to those which flower at grown level. Some of the larger Etlingeras even have leafy shoots which can reach almost 10 metres high.

So far, i've managed to collect four species of Etlingera; the red, pink and white forms of the Etlingera elatior and a hybrid known as the Etlingera Yamamoto. The ones which I am still on a look out for are the tulip torch, Siam Rose, Malay Rose and the Littoralis.

Also, it may be of some interest to know that the inflorescence does not always appear from the ground. There have been occasions in the past where the inflorescence can appear at the terminal end of a leaf stalk, similar to the costus. So far, this has only happened once and the photos below will show you how it looks. It is not known what causes this strange phenomenon.