THE GINGER SHOW

Not for the spicy stew: this is the ornamental ginger. Very pretty to look at . It has been flowering in my garden for at least 3 weeks now.

This is the edible ginger - not sure about the scientific name of it -

but it produces groups of cone like flowers.

I was casually walking past the herb section of the garden, near the kitchen, when something stopped me and I had to take a closer look. The ornamental ginger had produced a beautiful, showy, pink flower, white in the middle. Underneath the main pink, were tiny yellow flowers. It's still going strong after several weeks. Interestingly, there is only one big flower hiding in the middle of big leaves. It is growing next to the edible ginger and a rosemary bush. I don't think that the ornamental ginger has flowered before, so this was a real serendipity.

I love the combination of ginger and garlic in food. Even though the edible ginger grows in the garden, and seems to multiply very easily, I have only tried to use it once or twice in cooking. It does not taste very nice raw, so I mostly buy the big, brown fresh ginger root from shops.