Would You Plant ... Wild Ginger?

Hexastylis arofolia, a.k.a. Wild Ginger. Photo by BlueRidgeKitties.

Hello, fellow gardeners!

I am hoping to benefit from your wisdom with a new series of posts called "Would You Plant..."

These posts will cover plants that intrigue me, that I'd like to add to my garden, but with which I have zero experience.

I'd like to get your opinions (ideally, but not necessarily, grounded in personal experience) as to the merits or demerits of these plants.

So the first one I'm considering is Hexastylis arifolia, a.k.a. Wild Ginger. Another common name is "Little Brown Jug", which refers to the small pitcher-shaped flowers that appear at the base of the stems.

Pros:

- Native to the Southeast

- Evergreen groundcover (I'm looking for groundcovers that will stay green year round, protecting the soil and blocking winter weeds)

- Reportedly hardy to zone

- Beautiful patterned/mottled foliage

- Really cool and unusual flowers


Cons:

- It does not appear to grow very thickly. Would it be thick enough to suppress weeds?

- I'm not sure how quickly it would grow to cover ground. I think gingers generally grow kind of slowly. On the other hand, this should make it easier to make sure it doesn't get out of control.

- Slug damage can reportedly be a problem. I'd probably try stopping the slugs in their tracks with diatomaceous earth if that became an issue.



Other comments:

- Wild gingers reportedly need at least partial shade and will grow in full shade. I think they prefer moist soil, but I hope they would do OK in dryer soil if given enough shade and/or supplemental irrigation in case of a drought.

- Wild ginger in the Hexastylis or Asarum genuses are NOT the same as the edible culinary ginger Zingiber officinale. Native to tropical Asia, Z. officinale reportedly is only hardy to zone 8 and thus would not survive a Middle Tennessee winter. Is Hexastylis arifolia edible? I have no idea. You can read conflicting information on the Internet as to whether Asarum (which I believe is closely-related botanically to Hexastylis) is safe or poisonous. Personally, I am not planning to eat any Hexastylis or Asarum roots. I'm just interested in using Hexastylis for ornamental purposes.


Here are some of the sources I found while researching Hexastylis arifolia:

- Clemson Cooperative Extension (Incidentally, Clemson seems to believe using the ornamental ginger in cooking is OK: "Wild ginger does not refer to the culinary ginger (Zingiber officinale) that is used in stir-fry and ginger ale. However, its fleshy root does have a spicy aroma and can be substituted for culinary ginger in your favorite Asian recipe.") 

- The Annotated Flora

- Alabamaplants.com

- Using Georgia Native Plants - Talks about the role that ants reportedly play in dispersing H. arifolia seeds!



Where to Buy:

- If I end up buying Hexastylis arifolia, I'll probably order it from Woodlanders.


So have you grown any of the Hexastylis or Asarum ornamental gingers?

If so, I'd love to hear about your experiences in the Comments section below.

If not, do you think you might add one of these native ornamental gingers to your garden someday based on the pros-and-cons above or would you steer clear? Why or why not?

Gardens of Spain Part 2 - The Alcazar of Sevilla

Courtyard garden in Sevilla's Alcazar palace. Beautifully carved archways and a pleasant-enough long pool of water, but I'm underwhelmed by the scrawny, clipped orange trees adrift in a sea of dirt. This courtyard does demonstrate the Moorish and Mudejar predilection for symmetry in design.

To me, the Alhambra in Granada represents the pinnacle of Moorish architecture and design in Spain.

The Alcazar in Sevilla, on the other hand, demonstrates "Mudejar" craft -- the skill of Muslim artisans who remained in Spain after the Christian reconquest and used their skills (especially architecture and decorative arts) in the service of Christian monarchs and a Christian sensibility. Thus, for instance, a building that was built for the Christian king Peter I apparently contains Arabic inscriptions that describe Peter as a "sultan".

Personally, I prefer what I consider to be the pure Moorish aesthetic at the Alhambra. While I admire the fact that kings like Peter respected the Moorish traditions enough to incorporate their styles into his palace, the Sevilla Alcazar still seems somewhat ersatz to me.

(Peter himself had an interesting life. I find it interesting that he was known by the epithets of both "Peter the Just" and "Peter the Cruel". Guess it depends whether you agreed with his positions or not!)

The gardens of the Alcazar palace are extensive, but there just weren't very many plants or design elements that caught my interest or struck me as noteworthy. In fact, looking through all the Alcazar photos I took, I could only find two more garden-related photos worth posting:

Not even in the actual garden, this palm tree and the other tree covered in flowers beyond it caught my eye. I liked the contrast of textures and colors. Does anyone know what the pink-flowering tree might be? I presume it would not be hardy to USDA zones 6/7, but I'd still like to know...

Lantana camara (popularly known just as Lantana) is treated as an annual plant where I live, but I was surprised to learn that it is actually a perennial hardy to zone 9b (according to Dave's Garden). Southern Spain had the most beautiful Lantana plants that I had ever seen, including this specimen in the Alcazar gardens. According to North Carolina State University, unripe Lantana berries are extremely poisonous, so please be careful with this plant! There are also reports that the leaves can cause dermatitis in people (and can be poisonous to cattle that eat large quantities of them) and Lantana camara can apparently also be very invasive, especially in warmer parts of the U.S. So while I like this photo, I guess I would discourage post people from planting Lantana in their yards.

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