Two varieties – Zingiber zerumbet and Zingiber spectabile – are tropical flowers popular in floral design for cutting. The first one (on the left) resembles a pine cone, and the second – a small cone-shaped hive.
Beautiful Zingiber
These plants have long narrow leaves and inflorescences grow from the soil on separate stems.
Zingiber is a member of the Zingiberaceae family, which includes about forty species of tropical gingers, which grow in Malaysia, Indonesia, East Asia and Australia. Besides floral design, these plants are also used in cooking, where their aromatic rootstocks are popular.
Zingiber zerumbet is also known for its application in the pharmaceutical industry where it is used in the manufacture of shampoos. Creamy liquid substance exuded from its bracts has long been used as a shampoo in Asia and Hawaii. This substance moisturizes and softens the hair perfectly.
Ginger is available year-round with a delivery from Latin America, Hawaii, Southeast Asia and Africa. However, fifty percent of the market of ginger sales belongs to India.
Zingiber will not develop after cutting at all, so it must be cut off at the peak of its development. Choose brightly colored and shiny plants and avoid those that are beaten or bruised. Do not order the ginger in advance.
Unpack zingibers immediately on receipt. If they are fixed in the containers in which they were delivered, carefully remove the tape and other packing materials. If plants lack water, trim each stem by two to three centimeters and immerse in room temperature water for about twenty minutes.
Then trim the stems again and put the plants in a feeding solution for flowers at least two hours before you put them up for sale.
Zingiber is very sensitive to cold, so it must be stored at a temperature of 13-15 degrees Celsius. Keeping it at temperature below ten degrees will lead to the fact that it will turn gray-blue in color.
Zingiber can last from 6 to 14 days with proper care. One should remember that it must be trimmed and water must be changed every other day, and if the buyer will also do this, Zingiber will decorate a vase for up to three weeks. Periodic immersion of the plants in the water will prolong their lives.
The healing abilities of ginger
Healing abilities of ginger compete with its culinary properties. It is a constituent of more than a half of all herbal medicines of ancient Chinese medicine. It is used to treat abdominal pain, indigestion, toothache, stretched ligaments and joints throughout the territory of Hawaii and the rest of Polynesia. It is also used commercially as a meat preservative and, as already mentioned, in the manufacture of shampoos.
A long lifetime in a vase makes Zingiber a very convenient plant for making compositions and bouquets, and its unusual appearance will add originality to any design.