Hardy Gingers: Including Hedychium, Roscoea, And Zingiber [Paperback]

A guide to the temperate zone and high altitude ginger varieties that are perfectly at home in cooler climates. Cultivation advice includes techniques for breaking dormancy, maintaining soil nutrition, and understanding plants' hardiness requirements.

This book is only available through print on demand. All interior art is black and white.

T. M. E. Branney is co-owner of The Europa Nursery that specializes in rare, temperate-woodland plants. As well as offering a wide selection ofZingiberaceae, the nursery is also involved in a large-scale hybridization program forEpimediumand has amassed a comprehensive collection ofPolygonatum. Branney designs gardens for private clients and has had articles and photographs published in plant journals all over the world. He has travelled to Southeast Asia, Central America, and Madeira to observe plants in the wild, take photographs, and collect seed.

The familyZingiberaceaecontains a number of volatile and essential oils including terpenoids and phenylpropanoids. The obvious aromatic nature of most parts of most species has led to the plants being used by mankind for a vast array of purposes throughout almost all of recorded human history. On top of this, various culinary gingers have been further utilized for their medicinal qualities. These uses are not merely the preserve of ancient traditional folklore, and modern trials are revealing new applications for the plants every year.

SeveralAlpiniaspecies are utilized by humans. Aboriginal peoples have long favoured the blue-fruited Australian clumping cane,A. caerulea, both for its edible fruit and rhizome tips and for its leaves, which are traditionally used as a bed on which to lay meat while it is cooked in an earth oven.

Alpinia galanga, known as the greater galangale or simply galangale, is a very popular spice throughout Southeast Asia and particularly in the cuisine of Thail³P