Globba racemosaYellow Dancing Girl Ginger

Globba racemosa is a small woodland ginger from southern China and the eastern Himalaya, sending up leafy shoots to about 0.7 metres and finishing each one with a nodding raceme of yellow flowers on long curved stalks. The common name comes from that hovering, dancing look.

It dies back to the rhizome in the cool season and returns reliably, spreading slowly into a colony. It is a shade plant, and it wants humidity to look its best.

Specifications

• Height0.4 to 0.8 metres
• Width0.4 to 0.6 metres, spreading slowly by rhizome
• Native toSouthern China, the eastern Himalaya and mainland Southeast Asia
• FoliageSoft, lance-shaped leaves on slender upright stems; deciduous, dying back in the cool season
• Growth rateModerate

Conditions

• SoilRequires moist, humus-rich, free-draining soil
• LightPartial to deep shade
• WaterModerate to high in the growing season, drier through dormancy
• ClimateThrives in humid subtropical and tropical regions

Additional Features

• FlowersNodding racemes of small yellow flowers with long curved stalks through summer
• UsesShaded understorey beds, courtyard planting, woodland edges and containers
• SpacingPlant 5 to 7 per square metre for a closed colony
• Low MaintenanceCut back spent stems at dormancy and divide congested clumps every few years
• Pest ResistanceGenerally trouble-free in shaded, humid positions
• Seasonal AppealA long summer flowering season followed by clean winter dormancy

The Yellow Dancing Girl Ginger is a light, detailed shade plant for humid understorey beds where something finer than foliage mass is wanted.