Siam Tulips - Curcuma Alismatifolia

Just bought several of these show stoppers, but I need some tips. They each have one bloom. Will they bloom again or should I cut the stalk when it starts to wilt to get another? How about sun needs? One source says full sun and another says "semi-sun". Any help is greatly appreciated. I'm in Zone 8a/b outside of Destin in the FL Panhandle.

Here you go. Isn't actually a Tulip like I would think of, but pretty and unusual. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/706/index.html
Hope that helps. Comments at bottom of page are especially good.
sidney

I have several types of Curcuma gingers, including the Siam Tulips. I don't think cutting off the flower stalk will induce another flower to form, but I've never tried this. The showiest part of the flower (the pink stalk) is a form of bracts, I think, and the actual flower emerges upward along the stalk, a few each day. I don't give mine any special attention other than keeping their soil moist most of the time. They are planted in partial sun along with my other ginger plants and seem to do well in that amount of light. As others reported in the Plant Files page, they don't seem completely winter hardy in Zone 8b/9a. I had some that didn't make it through the winter (lowest temps around 28 F on a few nights) even with a good covering of hay as winter mulch.

Jeremy

Thanks guys! I got an email from bamacracker over in Lynn Haven (by Panama City) and the word there is that theirs are making it through the winter and coming back so I'm hopeful! They're beautiful!

Anytime!

BDunn. I am just down the road from you. Mine come back each springs once the ground warm up to seventy degrees for a while. I have some in part sun and some in full sun. They seem to do a little better in part sun for me, but will grow in either. Make sure they get plenty of water when they are actively growing. Mine only bloom once a season no matter what I do.

Thanks so much! Maybe I'll try both spots, too, and see what happens. Do you fertilize?

Only when I fertilize the rest of the garden with foliage spray, which is when I think about it.

I got some of the small ones recently and put them in pots around the pool. After flowering the plant disappeared completely. Are they dead? What did I do? The other plants in those pots are going crazy.

Leslie

The plants go dormant in the fall and die back com[pletely, re-emerging in the spring.
The ones in pots, I toss a few annual seeds in and have have color over the winter.
When the curcuma show their heads in the spring, I either toss the annuals or transplant them and add some new soil to the top.

Thank you! I'm so glad I didn't kill them, or throw them out. I read someone here say that it's not dead until it's been dead a year. I guess that's why!

Leslie

A lot of people have made that mistake, I almost did. LOL

Invaluable info, Budgielover. Now I know what to do with mine, still blooming their first season. :)

I love them and the minis are so cute.

Minis? You mean a smaller blossom?

Yep, They get about 12-15 in tall and the bloom is high on the stalk and the bloom itself is only about 2 inches tall, not including the stalk.