Zingiber mioga

Mioga Ginger. A treasured food crop in Japan where the new shoots are prized as a vegetable and the flower buds are considered a delicacy when diced and added to soup. This is a true ginger although it lacks the big rhizome of the culinary variety. What it does have over the gingerbread ginger is hardiness. This is the hardiest of the Zingibers and our friend Aaron Floden tells us he grew this in Kansas without any special protection and temperatures regularly got to -15F and it did not suffer. This clumps up quickly in rich moist soil in shade with 3' green leafy stems and produces exotic small orchid-like creamy yellow flowers at ground level in late summer and fall. It's a no-brainer for fall cleanup because the leaf stalks turn yellow and fall over breaking off cleanly from the crown so all you have to do is pick them up. Or not if you are into self-mulching plants.