Alpinia hainanensisHainan Galangal

Alpinia hainanensis is a clumping evergreen ginger that throws up cane-like pseudostems clothed in long, arching, bright green blades, building into a dense shrub-scale mass over two or three seasons. In spring it carries erect racemes of white flowers marked red and yellow on the lip, held at the top of the canes.

In landscape use it fills the middle layer: a soft, tropical screen against a boundary wall, a mass beneath a canopy, or a bold edge to a shaded courtyard.

Specifications

• Height1.5 to 3 metres
• Width1 to 2 metres per clump, spreading slowly by rhizome
• Native toSouthern China, including Hainan, and northern Vietnam
• FoliageLong, lance-shaped, bright green blades on upright cane-like pseudostems; evergreen in frost-free climates
• Growth rateModerate

Conditions

• SoilPrefers rich, moist, well-drained soils with plenty of organic matter
• LightFull sun to partial shade; foliage stays best in shelter from hot afternoon sun
• WaterModerate to high; keep evenly moist through the growing season
• ClimateThrives in tropical and warm subtropical regions; frost sensitive

Additional Features

• FlowersErect spring racemes of white flowers with a red and yellow marked lip
• FormUpright clumping habit that reads as a soft evergreen mass
• UsesIdeal for informal screening, understorey mass planting, shaded courtyards and tropical borders
• SpacingPlant 1 to 1.5 metres apart for a continuous screen
• Low MaintenanceCut spent canes to the ground after flowering; divide congested clumps every few years
• Pest ResistanceGenerally resilient
• VersatilityWorks as a screen, a mass planting or a large container specimen in shade

Hainan Galangal gives a scheme the weight of a shrub with the texture of a ginger, which is exactly what a shaded tropical courtyard needs.