Native Blue Ginger

Native blue ginger  is an attractive, easy to grow feature plant  and also a bush tucker food with a mild, tangy ginger flavour. A perennial clumping shrub with wide, glossy green leaves and bright blue berries growing up to two metres high and one metre wide.  A relative of edible ginger, cardamom, turmeric and galangal, native ginger also grows from a spicy underground rhizome and both the young root tips, shoots and the fruits are edible.

Though native ginger prefers shade and moist well-drained soil, it is a very hardy plant and will tolerate part sun and they are best positioned for protection from strong or dry winds. Not frost tolerant, they are unsuitable for areas of frost unless a correct microclimate can be established.

Lush green foliage makes native ginger very suitable for use as a feature or focal plant. It’s a good plant for garden borders or around a pool, to fill gaps and narrow spaces or for mass plantings. Native ginger also makes a great indoor plant. Though it may not flower or fruit as readily, the roots will carry on growing provided it is getting adequate water and nutrients so why not place a large pot near the kitchen for easy harvesting.