Costus. The underrated tropical plant
Date Posted:11 September 2024
The Costus genus is commonly known as spiralling gingers, but technically speaking they are not true gingers and regarded as a whole separate genus. Here at Bamboo Land, we think the Costus is an under utilised plant which make great features or fillers in any tropical garden.
The wonderful thing about all Costus is they are very easy to grow. They have similar characteristics and growing conditions as gingers. They are fast growing and they produce flowers for most of the year.
The most popular edible variety is the Costus Cosmosus X Productus (Phoenix), which grows a bright red bract with yellow edible flowers. The fresh flowers makes excellent zesty additions to garden salads. The compact growth and neary year-round flowering makes this plant super popular. For puchasing and more information, click here.
Typical height: 1.5 to 2m
Climate: Quite cold tolerant. Grows well in most parts of Australia.
Light conditions: Part shade
Growth habit: Clumping, upright
Growing conditions: Moist well drained soil, rich in organic matter
Flowers: Nearly all year
Some of our most popular varieties of Costus include:
Costus 'Belize Yellow'
Costus 'Midori Magic'
Costus arabicus 'Variegata'
Costus asplundii
Costus chartaceus
Costus comosus (Red Tower Ginger)
Costus comosus X erythrophyllus 'Oxley Ruby'
Costus comosus X productus (Phoenix)
Costus varzearum x productus (Green Mountain)
Costus varzearum x productus
Costus belize yellow
Costus cosmosus x productus