It’s October and the fragrant Butterfly ginger has bloomed in my mom’s garden.  She planted these back in May of this year.  For our northern California climate, these plant enjoy being in pots.

It’s got an interesting way of blooming.  Notice how they shoot up from individual pockets.  I didn’t catch them when they look like spears.

The fragrance is really the best part of this flower.  It reminded me of Gardenia, but with a lighter scent.  The ants and bees like it too.

The sight and smell of this flower brings me back to someplace tropical and warm, especially nice when it’s middle of Autumn.

If I had viable garden space, I would want to grow one of these flowers.  White Butterfly ginger (hedychiums) are considered one of the most attractive of all ginger flowers.

Ginger flowers are commonly known as Ginger lily.  They are  also related to the common ginger root used in cooking.

It is a popular landscape plant for warmer states such as Florida, Texas,  California and Hawaii .

The one pictured here is the White Butterfly Ginger.  It has green stalks that grow from thick rhizomes (root).  From the middle of summer through autumn, the stalks will have long clusters of fragrant white flowers.  Flowers that resemble butterflies, hence the name.

Here is the Houston Chronicle’s top 3 Butterfly Gingers that I like (out of their top 10 list).

Red ginger - The rows of red-orange flowers of this striking ginger are arranged to create a loose, bottlebrushlike look.

White butterfly ginger - The best-known of the butterfly gingers, these large, white, highly fragrant blooms are carried atop 5-foot plants.

Kahili ginger - The bright-yellow flowers of this lightly scented summer-fall bloomer have red-orange stamens. Leathery-leafed stalks.

All the other varieties sound really nice.  The Red ginger and Kahili ginger remind me of tropical places, such as Hawaii.

The white butterfly ginger seem to be most popular and widely available.  Ebay starts at $9 for 2 rhizomes.  Not too bad considering those rhizomes will start to multiply in no time!

Beautiful red ginger from Hawaii.  Same ginger leaves, but different blossoms.  Photo from R.J. Malfalfa via Flickr.

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