Singapore Botanic Gardens: the ginger family

Nearly ten years ago, Singapore's Botanic Gardens officially launched a garden dedicated to the ginger family. The one hectare garden contains over 550 species, varieties, and cultivars of the ginger order Zingiberales, including their close relations the bananas, heliconias, birds of paradise, spiral gingers, prayer plants, and cannas.

The variety of flowers among the ginger family members is amazing: from the fragility of the crepe gingers, the architectural form of the beehive gingers, and the wax-like flowers of some of the spiral gingers.

If I had to pick a favourite, it would be the torch ginger, whose superb flowers emerge directly from the rhizomes. Like the lotus and waterlilies that I frequently post, I find their flowers have a sheer perfection of form that mesmerises me. There are both pink and red varieties, and I was lucky that both were blooming prolifically on my visit.

Torch ginger Etlingera elatior

Heliconias were well represented in the Ginger Garden.

More helconias, here with the cone-like flowered spiral ginger Costus woodsonii

Crepe ginger Cheilocostus speciosus is not just a pretty face. It is used in traditional medicine to treat fevers and intestinal worms.

Indianthus virgatus (prev. Schumannianthus virgatus) from India and Sri Lanka

Still more heliconias

Red spiral ginger Costus comosos, which grows really well for me in Brisbane (and even better for my brother in Ballina, a few hours south of me but with rich volcanic soil and more rain).

Calathea warszewiczii

Musa beccarii is a clump-forming banana. Its inner shoot is eaten as a vegetable.

Detail of one of the heliconia flower from the plant above.

Heliconia stricta 'Dwarf Jamaican'

Alpinia purpurata

The Parrots Beak Heliconia rostrata

I didn't notice the mass of ants on this flower until I looked at the picture later.

Just guessing, another Calathea (or maybe a Curcuma), but simply gorgeous, whatever it is.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to the Ginger Garden.  Next post, we will visit Singapore's phenomenal National Orchid Garden.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day September 2012

Once again I am far from home for this month's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Back home in Australia, September marks the start of Spring, and I can't help but wonder what I am missing in the garden at Casa Bella. However, I do have a lovely garden to share, especially for those like me who live in the warmer corners of the globe or who love tropical plants. These photos were taken in the grounds of the very beautiful Sofitel Hotel in Hua Hin on the coast of Thailand where I visited last month.  I wasn't a guest, but I did have a lovely lunch and visit to the spa there and took advantage of the opportunity to wander.

I absolutely adore the Rangoon Creeper Quisqualis, so I hope you will indulge excessive photographs of a beautiful subject.

And did you notice through the arch, a raised pond featuring another of my floral favourites, waterlilies. I was in seventh heaven.

There were great topiaries

Flock of topiary birds in the distance

Stunning travellers palms  Ravenala madagascariensis

The parrot beak heliconia Heliconia rostrata

More heliconias, this time 'Golden Torch', I think.

Spiral Ginger Costus

I've been a bit neglectful of this fern at home, but after seeing it here I love it all over again now.

Love the contrast of the maroon foliage with border of variegated spider lilies.

Finally, you know I can't help myself  ...