Scientific Name:
Costus barbatus (comosus)Product Details:
Ships bare rooted. 12-15 inches in height.
Costus barbatus (comosus) 'Red Tower Ginger'- Fall in love with this wonderful plant by feeling the undersides of the leaves, which are as soft as down. The stems are slender and tend to spiral out of the ground and sway like charmed snakes. Like many tropical plants, they look best when among friends. Spiral leafed 6 to 8 feet tall with huge 7 to 13 inch tall deep-red inflorescence with large yellow flowers. Medium to full sun. Flowers April through November. Inflorescence lasts for months. Hummingbirds love them. Zones 9 and higher.
COSTUS--Called "spiral gingers". Have true stems and spirally-arranged foliage. Many are grown for cut flowers and flowers attract hummingbirds. Medium to full sun. Flower petals open from a cone on the terminal end of stems.
Gingers are the queen flowers of the plant world. They are the source of wonderous fragrances and possess exquisitely delicate foliage and flowers. The fragrance of some butterfly gingers will take your breath away.
Gingers enjoy a special position in the botanical kingdom with their elegance in form and texture, sparkling color and amazing symmetry. The word ginger conjures up images of an exotic oriental food flavoring. However edible ginger is only one of approximately 1,300 species of the very diverse Zingiberaceae family. Gingers are classed as a herbaceous perennial and have enjoyed popularity as an ornamental plant in Asia and the Far East for centuries. Only recently have they become known as outstanding ornamentals in the U.S.
Gingers as a group add outstanding exotic foliage and exotic flowers to the landscape. Gingers are wonderful plants for southern climates and protected northern climates. In both areas gingers are finding favor as interior landscape plants and most do very well in containers. Gingers are heavy feeders and drinkers during the growing season. Most do best in partial shade; however some thrive in full sun, others in full shade. So gingers provide plants for all light conditions. Many species enter dormancy in response to shorter days, cool temperatures, or dry conditions. Rhizomes (the underground stem) survive in a dormant condition beneath the soil surface during cold or dry conditions. Stokes Tropicals' Ginger Blend (8-4-6) is an excellent source for these wonderful plants.