Variegated Shampoo Ginger (Zingiber 'Darceyi')

About the Variegated Shampoo Ginger (Zingiber 'Darceyi')

'Darceyi' is the variegated form of awapuhi shampoo ginger, grown above all for its elegant foliage. Each leaf is green with crisp white stripes and margins, arranged in neat ranks along upright stems, and the plant brightens shady corners all through the growing season. Later in the year it produces the same pinecone-shaped cones as its parent, green ripening to red and filled with fragrant liquid. It is compact and well suited to pots and borders. Available as a rhizome, a potted young plant or a flowering-size clump.

How to Care for It

To plant a rhizome, lay it horizontally 3–5 cm deep in loose, compost-rich, well-drained soil with the buds facing up, water once and keep it barely moist until shoots appear; too much water before then can rot it. Give bright, partial shade to keep the white stripes crisp. It may die back in the dry or cool season; reduce watering until new shoots return. Feed monthly while growing and mulch to keep the roots cool and moist.

Sculptural flowers, fragrant blooms and edible rhizomes. Our tropical gingers include beehive ginger (awapuhi) in golden, red, pink and chocolate, shampoo ginger, red and pink torch ginger, red ginger, shell and butterfly ginger, plus culinary ginger and turmeric. Sold as rhizomes, potted plants or flowering clumps.

Growing Profile

Botanical name

Zingiber zerumbet 'Darceyi'

Family

Zingiberaceae

Native to

Cultivar of a species from India and Southeast Asia

Mature height

1–1.5 m

Plant spacing

1 m

Time to first flowers

1–1.5 years

Light

Sun to part shade

Water

Moderate

Cold tolerance

down to 2 °C

Best climates

Humid tropics, Dry tropics, Subtropical

Grows in a pot

Yes

Ships from

Our farms in Yucatán & Chiapas