What a shame, Ken, but as long as you still have some they will come back for you. I'm sure you had lots of really good thick mulch on top of them, but for this winter, maybe put some extra soil on top too i.e. bury 'em deeper?

They are very tender as I well know because mine are nearly the first things to die back when the nights get cool here. If it's going to be cold (into the 40's), I dump a whole bag of mulch on top of the area where they live.

Debbie/Elaine, I had a foot of oak leaves over them and they were surrounded by thick, lush, everygreens, and thus got no wind. I may put 2' of leaves over them next winter............

We had a really bad ice storm this past Winter and was amazed to see I didn't lose any of the Curcuma, Costus or Hedychiums that were in the ground. I though for sure they'd be goners since they had worked their way closer to the surface since they got divided and replanted 3 years ago.

I could be wrong about this, but perhaps ice and snow actually protect dormant plants from severe cold. The ice and snow should be around 32 F and thus, if the ambient temperature is in the teens or even less, that blanket of 32 F might insulate what's in the ground. Since I don't and never have lived in the north, perhaps those who do will have an answer to this question.

You're probably right about ice and snow acting as a blanket for folks up north, but I'm in the South, same zone as you and snow and ice are rare occurrences here. A few of the hedychiums that were actually showing on the surface did get a bit mushy.

Snow does insulate the ground somewhat, but ice and snow do get colder than 32deg. Plus when they melt, then you have extremely cold 33deg. water seeping down into the ground.

Keeping tender roots from freezing involves keeping the ground warm, and part of that is letting the sun warm it up during the day. So if the area where your tender plants is under deciduous trees, that might actually keep them warmer than evergreens because the sun warms the ground each day in winter until the leaves come back.

The evergreens trees are on the east side. Low evergreen bushes are on all other sides and deciduous trees are south and west. The bushes would only block the sun very late in the afternoon and the deciduous trees only during the early morning hours. But since I had a 1' thick leaf cover plus the evergreen plants, no sun would have reached any of the rhizomes from December through February.

Anne, did you say that you have costus in the ground and they come back in our zone?

I have the Costus pictus in the ground. The C. speciosus is in a pot .. it started out as a rooted cutting 3 years ago and I wanted it to make some nice big healthy rhizomes before putting it in the ground.

I've yet to see my costus flower, so I don't really know which one I have. I keep it in partial shade. I wonder if it will do better if I plant it. Does it need to go dormant? I don't remember if mine died down or not this past winter. I know I kept it going the 1st winter I had it.

My Costus that's in the ground gets full sun and like most gingers love food ... the more the better. It would probably be happier to have more leg room.

OK, I'd better get this baby planted and fed, so that I can see it bloom. Thanks.

Just know this .. for the gingers in the ground, the Hedychium are the first to appear, then the Curcuma and Costus last. So don't be freaking out until June if they haven't come up.

Thanks for the heads up.

Deebie, my Costus keep leaves all year so they don't need to die right back. They don't grow much in winter, though. Never bloom until summer but they're all in full flower now.

Elaine we get hard freezes here and temps in the lower 20's for hours. Everything dies back.

Elaine and Anne. Elaine, what you said reassures me that if I do decide to keep it potted under lights in the garage, it will not be a problem. It may even bloom sooner. It's good to know that it's not one of those gingers that blooms on the previous season's canes.

Anne, where did you get the globbas? Is there a good place?
I had a couple of them but the perished a couple of years ago.
Received a pine cone ginger and it has a cone

Betsy, Gingers R Us has them. I have purchase from them before.
http://www.gingersrus.com/cart...

Jay, would you mind adding them to the Green Pages (or I can if you would prefer)? I ended up not ordering from them because they were not listed here and I was concerned that there may be a reason. Now that I know that you have used them, I will feel better about doing so, too.