19 Best Ginger Plant Varieties to Grow at Home (With Pictures)
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Ed Malaker
- Last updated:
Ginger is an amazing plant that’s native to Asia. Many people use the root as a spice in food and drinks. It also has many medicinal uses, so you will find it an ingredient in many pills and tonics. Since it’s so helpful, many people would like to grow it at home but aren’t sure which kind is best. Keep reading as we list several of the top ginger varieties.
The 19 Ginger Plant Varieties to Grow at Home
1. Beehive Ginger
| Reason to Grow at Home: | Ornamental |
The beehive ginger is a great choice when you want to add color to your garden. It can grow to 15 feet tall, and all parts have a strong ginger fragrance. The flowers begin with a cream color but turn red as they age. It’s popular in the western United States as an ornamental flower, but a few other areas use it for its medicinal properties.
2. Bitter Ginger
| Reason to Grow at Home: | Perfect for sunny areas |
As the name suggests, this variety has a bitter flavor compared to most other types, so you will want to try it out before using it in your recipes. It’s popular for making shampoo and is often an ingredient in herbal medications. Grow it in plenty of sunshine for the best results.
3. Butterfly Lily Ginger
| Reason to Grow at Home: | Grows well in pots |
The butterfly lily ginger variety is a good choice if you want to grow your ginger indoors, as this variety does well in pots. It produces spicy roots that are great in soup and other dishes, and it has attractive foliage that helps it liven up the room.
4. Common Ginger
| Reason to Grow at Home: | Grows well in pots |
Common ginger is one of the most popular varieties to grow at home. It’s aromatic and has several medicinal and culinary uses. It grows well in pots, prefers filtered sunlight, and is easy to maintain. Many people also enjoy the flavor of this variety.
5. Crepe Ginger
| Reason to Grow at Home: | Grows well in pots |
Crepe ginger is a large plant that produces delicate white flowers, so many people like to grow it as an ornamental plant. It doesn’t need direct sunlight and grows best under a canopy of trees where it receives filtered sunlight. It also prefers warm and humid climates.
6. Dancing Ladies Ginger
| Reason to Grow at Home: | Attractive flowers |
Dancing ladies ginger gets its name from its attractive flowers that resemble a dancing lady when the wind blows, causing many people to use them as ornamental plants. It has a sweet honeysuckle fragrance and grows best in hot climates with a growing zone between 8 and 11.
7. Hidden Ginger
| Reason to Grow at Home: | Attractive pink, purple, or orange flowers |
The hidden ginger is a beautiful plant that produces pink, purple, or orange flowers that enhance any garden. It typically grows 2 to 3 feet tall and has a bitter taste that’s perfect for foods like soups, and it also works well in spicy foods like chili.
8. Kahili Ginger
| Reason to Grow at Home: | Ornamental |
The kahili ginger is an ornamental plant with large foliage and fragrant flowers. It’s a good choice for indoor or outdoor growth and will typically stay between 3 and 4 feet tall in a pot but can grow up to 8 feet in the ground. While it looks nice, most people don’t use this variety as a flavor for food.
9. Mango Ginger
| Reason to Grow at Home: | Grows in colder climates |
The mango ginger is a fragrant plant with a spicy taste. It gets its name from the hint of raw mango in the flavor, making it a good choice for cookies and soups. Another benefit of this variety is that it can grow in cool temperatures and will even tolerate a frost.
10. Myoga Ginger
| Reason to Grow at Home: | Doesn’t require much direct sunlight |
Myoga ginger grows well in partial shade, so it’s a great choice for pots and growing indoors. It’s also easy to grow in most gardens because you don’t need to worry about where you plant it. It has a spicy flavor and a strong fragrance.
11. Pineapple Ginger
| Reason to Grow at Home: | Ornamental |
Pineapple ginger is a favorite among gardeners looking for an ornamental plant that isn’t hard to grow. It does well in filtered sunlight, so you could grow it indoors or outside, and it produces long red bracts that resemble pineapples in shape and look quite attractive.
12. Red Ginger
| Reason to Grow at Home: | Ornamental |
The red ginger has many names, including ostrich plumes, jungle king, and pink cone ginger. It produces great-tasting spicy ginger, but most people use it as an ornamental plant due to its bright red or pink bracts.
13. Resurrection Lily
| Reason to Grow at Home: | Sweet fragrance |
The resurrection lily is a great choice to grow in pots, as it has large foliage that’s quite showy. It gets its name from its lily-like flowers that produce a strong sweet fragrance in the fall.
14. Shell Ginger
| Reason to Grow at Home: | Pleasant fragrance |
Shell ginger is an attractive plant with a great fragrance that you can grow indoors or outside. It will grow to almost 10 feet tall in the ground but usually stays between 3 and 4 feet in a pot. It’s not too demanding of lighting or water, so it’s a good choice for the busy gardener.
15. Siam Tulip
| Reason to Grow at Home: | Ornamental |
The Siam tulip has a great flavor that you can use in many dishes, including soup. It also grows well in shady areas, so it’s good for growing indoors. However, many people like to place it outdoors and use it as a decorative plant because it produces many attractive pink flowers that will improve the appearance of any garden.
16. Thai Ginger
| Reason to Grow at Home: | Tolerates plenty of sun |
Thai ginger is a variety with many names, including blue ginger. It has an intense aroma that you can smell from quite a distance, and many people describe the flavor as a combination of pine needles and black pepper. It’s a good choice for spicy foods like chili and grows well in plenty of sunlight.
17. Torch Ginger
| Reason to Grow at Home: | Ornamental |
The torch ginger is an ornamental variety that produces large, vibrant flowers. The flowers can be red, orange, or pink, and the petals have white edges that help them stand out and capture people’s attention. You can eat the entire plant, and the flower buds are an important part of many Indonesian and Thai recipes.
18. Turmeric
| Reason to Grow at Home: | A wide variety of uses |
Turmeric is a great choice for indoor growing, and you can grow several plants in a single medium-sized pot. The roots have a peppery flavor; you can find them in many Indian curries. It also has several medicinal uses, making it one of the more popular garden plants.
19. Yellow Ginger
| Reason to Grow at Home: | Pleasant fragrance |
Yellow Ginger is not as fragrant as many other varieties on this list. Still, many people grow it because of its attractive yellow flowers and sweet fragrance that you can smell from a considerable distance. It also tolerates a shady environment.
Tips for Growing Ginger
- Most varieties of ginger like plenty of sun but don’t do well if they spend too much time in direct sunlight. Filtered sunlight that comes down through the leaves of trees above is best, but it will also do well in a shady yard or indoors.
- Most varieties of ginger prefer well-draining soil that holds moisture but doesn’t get soggy. Avoid planting ginger in lower areas of your yard, where water might collect and produce waterlogged soil.
- Most ginger plants prefer warm temperatures, but a few varieties will have enough time to produce a harvest during the warmer months of a colder climate. Many types will also do well indoors, especially if you like to keep the temperature slightly warmer.
- You can usually harvest ginger after two seasons when the plant has finished growing, and the leaves start to turn yellow. Wear gloves to remove the rhizome, and work without tools to avoid damaging the roots. You need to leave them in place if you want to have a harvest the next year.
Conclusion
There are many varieties of ginger that you can plant in your garden or grow in your home. The kind that you choose will mainly depend on whether you are looking for an ingredient for food or something ornamental. If you’re just getting started, we recommend turmeric because it has a long list of uses, and you can grow it indoors or outside. It also produces a large crop with little effort.
Featured Image Credit: Supachai Rattanarueangdech, Shutterstock
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