Variegated Spiral Ginger

Description:

This Variegated Spiral Ginger has great reddish spiral stems with sharply variegated foliage, making it a standout in the garden landscape. The leaves are velvety soft and the underside of the leaves are covered with a fuzz of hairs. Although it is predominantly a foliage plant, it also has attractive flowers, which start out as dark maroon cones at the end of the stalks. The flowers are white ‘crepe’ flowers.

Habitat:

During active growth in summer it should be grown in rich moist organic soil, and it performs best in a few hours of direct sun. Once established and growing in the right conditions it is quite vigorous and will produce a mature flowering plant in a single season. It likes medium to full sun and grows from 1.5 to 2.1 metres. It is a great container plant. It must not be kept too wet while dormant. Zone 9 is about the limit of its hardiness. source: http://members.iinet.net.au/~meckms/Ging...

Notes:

Costus is a genus of perennial tropical herbaceous plants from the costus family (Costaceae). They are often characterized and distinguished from relatives such as Zingiber (true ginger) by their spiraling stems. The genus as a whole is thus often called spiral gingers, but this can also refer to C. barbatus specifically. source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costus