Gingers carried to Hawai'i by canoe highly valued
By Heidi Bornhorst
Q. Basically, I moved to Hawai'i so I could grow all kinds of flowering and edible gingers. I am overwhelmed by the number of varieties. Are there really red, white and blue gingers? Can I eat any of them? Are there any native Hawaiian gingers?
— Karlene Ellis, Makiki
A. We have dozens of kinds of ginger in Hawai'i, and they are fun and rewarding to grow. We have no native Hawaiian ginger, but we have two kinds carried here in the early sailing canoes.
'Olena is known as turmeric in the spice world. This golden-rhizomed ginger continues to be highly valued in our gardens today.
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This goes dormant in the winter, so you need to mark or remember where it is in the garden. The new shoots are emerging right about now. Its pretty white and green flower emerges directly from the underground rhizome on its own flowering shoot.
Jacaranda trees, with their lavender flowers, are doing very well this year. This gorgeous example is growing in Upcountry Maui.
For gourmet cooks, there is nothing like fresh 'olena from the garden to spice up your cooking. Fresh turmeric is far more 'ono than any yellow powdered stuff in a jar.
'Awapuhi, or shampoo ginger, is another "canoe plant." It has gone wild in some of Hawai'i's wet lowland forests. It also has a separate floral shoot full of sweet gingery-smelling sudsy juice, which acts like a hair conditioner after you bathe in a mountain stream.
Edible ginger, or 'Awapuhi Pake, is a "transplanted landscape" plant many of us cherish and harvest for cooking.
'Awapuhi Pake has great medicinal uses for huli 'opu (upset stomach), morning sickness and even hangovers. You can make your own ginger tea from slices of fresh ginger root.
Red ginger is a perennial in Hawai'i gardens, and the blooms can last for up to six months on the plant. In a floral arrangement, they can last a month or more if you change the water and recut the floral stems daily.
I love to have them for hostess gifts. Who could frown at a red ginger blossom?
White ginger, or 'awapuhi ke'o ke'o, is the summer bloomer that has one of the most delightful perfumes in the world — often copied, never replicated in any perfume bottle. The fragile flowers are used in lei.
We also have yellow ginger, or 'awapuhi melemele, and kahili ginger.
"Blue ginger" is not actually a ginger. It is a native of Brazil. It looks like a ginger but doesn't smell like one, and the flowers are different. It is actually related to oyster plant and honohono.
In bloom
Q. Is there any tree like a purple shower tree? The rainbow showers at Kapi'olani Park are so nice this year. Someone told me there's a purple shower. What flowering tree do you think they might mean?
— Jackie Law, Kahala
A. There is no purple shower tree, although our rainbow shower trees range in color from the lightest lemon-meringue white (that is the 'Queen's white' or "Queen's Hospital white" variety) to deepest watermelon sherbet in flower color.
Jacaranda, with its lavender flowers, is doing very well in the blooming department this year. Lowland trees like those in Waikiki, which never usually bloom, are still in bloom. There is one big tree along the freeway in Kalihi that has been in purple display for months. The wet winter must have done the jacaranda good, because it's been years since I've seen them this nice, full bloomed and plush.
One also might mistake the giant crepe myrtle for a shower tree.
These are just coming into magnificent bloom in Kahalu'u along Kalaniana'ole Highway. The swale just before the Hygienic Store is purple with them. Nearby Kahalu'u neighborhoods also have some tall pretty crepe myrtles coming into bloom.
There is a huge old crepe myrtle in Foster Botanical Garden. You can see the purple head of it towering over the other old magnificent trees as you drive along the freeway, kokohead-bound, near School Street. This is a pretty sight for all commuters. Try and spot it and note how long it stays in bloom.
This giant crepe myrtle is recognized as an "Exceptional Tree" and is protected by city ordinance. Have you visited the cool old shade of Foster Botanical Garden recently? Summer is a great time to visit this treasure of an old garden.
Heidi Bornhorst is a sustainable-landscape consultant. Send your questions to: Island Life, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802; or islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com. Letters may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.
