Northland
Our garden here at Matapouri Bay has reached a stage where large areas of shade have opened up under big trees and clustered palms
Russell Fransham on perennial gingers
It seems like only a few years since it was grassy paddocks and scorching sun. Nowadays big drifts of clivia light up the shade with raucous seasonal colour and the startling dance of bromeliads brings year-long warmth to the darker reaches. But I’ve also had some unexpected successes with perennial gingers.
The genus kaempferia are herbaceous gingers from tropical Asia that are known collectively as the “peacock gingers” for their beautifully patterned leaves.
They are also important as food and for their medicinal qualities.
And no, they are not invasive. Most people would not in fact guess that they were gingers at all, as they look more like delicate, exotically patterned hostas with flowers like little orchids.
Like hostas, the peacock gingers are deciduous, collapsing in late autumn and passing the winter as juicy tuberous rhizomes below ground. They emerge in late spring once the soil is warm again.
In India, while winters can be frosty they are mostly still warmish but often so dry that delicate foliage cannot survive and this defensive dormancy conveniently coincides with our own Miserable Season – I confess that in July and August it is a talent I envy.
Kaempferia pulchra is a surprise when its glittering painted leaves unfurl from the soil in October,
a translucent copper and lime peacock pattern on low, round leaves that carpet the ground in the shade of trees. They are seldom more than 15cm high.
The leaves darken as they mature and within a couple of weeks the bright lilac-pink flowers appear nestled in the leaves and continue until autumn. The leaves gradually become less obviously patterned as the season progresses though the flowers continue all through the growing season.
This little plant lights up dark corners that the direct sun never reaches then tucks itself up and disappears for the winter. It can also make a lovely indoor plant for six or seven months of the year. Under deciduous or evergreen trees its subtle charms can be a delightful highlight beside a path or in a shaft of sunlight among mossy roots and rocks. If they get too soggy in the winter the rhizomes can rot, so good drainage is essential.
Kaempferia rotunda, on the other hand, flowers first before the leaves emerge.
A tiny purple and white explosion of orchid-like flowers bursts from the soil in September carpeting the ground for three or four weeks, then, as the last flowers wither, the dark red spears of furled leaves spike upwards, unrolling to display a subtle peacockpatterned upside and deep maroon-red underside. They stand 50cm high, clustered vertically like a broad-leaved, low flax. This lovely plant is happy in full sun or dappled shade, and disappears again in May. It is native to most of monsoon Asia, from India to Southern China where it is often collected in the wild for food and medicinal purposes and often grown in gardens as an ornamental. The underground rhizomes and young leaves are used to flavour food while the mushed-up rhizomes are used to make poultices for sprains. The plant is known for its antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties, which are traditionally used to treat heart disease, some infections, diabetes and cancers in many Asian medical traditions.
In contrast to the dark green and red of the wild species there is an attractive cultivar called Kaempferia
rotunda ‘Silver Diamonds’.
This one is my favourite as it has pronounced silvery geometric patterns on the upper side of the leaves although the undersides are a more muted red than the wild form.
Kaempferia rotunda forms slowly expanding clumps and can be left unattended for many years, always attractive throughout its seven-month growing phase. It will emerge through low groundcovers such as Ajuga reptans, Alternanthera ‘Little Ruby’ or our native
Pratia angulata, which cover the ground all year in dappled light to full sun as long as they have regular moisture. Planting a perennial such as Kaempferia
rotunda in a bed of contrasting evergreen groundcover means its seasonal die-back goes unnoticed amidst the carpet of permanent neighbours.