Variegated Shell Ginger

Variegated Shell Ginger (Alpinia zerumbet 'Variegata') is the fastest way to make a warm garden read as tropical. Broad paddle leaves brushed with gold and green climb to about 2m tall and 1.5m wide in a couple of seasons, and the clump keeps thickening from the base. Plant it a metre apart and you have a soft, leafy screen where a bare fence used to be.

Why you'll love it

• Colour without a flower. The gold striping runs the length of every leaf and holds all year, so the display never depends on a season.
• Fast, and cheap to fill with. It puts up new canes through the warm months and reaches screening height inside two summers.
• It handles wet feet. Damp corners, downpipe outfalls and the low end of a lawn are where most shrubs sulk. This one thrives there.
• Safe around pets, and scented. Not toxic to cats or dogs, and arching sprays of waxy white and pink buds hang from canes in their second year.

Where it works best

Screening and privacy. Plant 1m apart in a single row. The leaves overlap by the second summer, and because the growth is soft it filters a view rather than walling it off.

Mass planting and poolside. Hold the same 1m spacing across a bed. Salt tolerant, heat tolerant and comfortable in humidity, with no fine litter to drop into the water.

Pots and feature planting. A pot 500mm or wider keeps it near 1.2m to 1.5m for a door or a wide balcony.

Growing variegated shell ginger in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun to part shade, with the best variegation in bright light and the largest leaves in dappled shade. It suits tropical, subtropical and warm temperate gardens, and it is frost tender, so cold inland and southern gardens need a pot that shelters through winter.

Soil. Not fussy, and unusually forgiving of heavy, damp ground. Improve poor soil with compost at planting and mulch 75mm deep, kept clear of the canes.

Water and feed. Deep water twice a week through the first summer, then as needed. The leaf edges crisp if it goes too long dry. A complete slow release fertiliser in early spring and mid summer keeps the colour bright.

Pruning. Cut spent canes to ground level after they flower, since each cane flowers once. In cooler gardens, frost damaged foliage can be cut back hard in early spring and the clump reshoots.

What to expect when it arrives

Sizes run from tube stock, through 140mm pots in packs of ten, 200mm in packs of six and 250mm in packs of three, to single 300mm plants. Tubes and 140mm plants are young clumps of two or three canes and the value choice for a long boundary. The 250mm and 300mm plants arrive with real leaf area already.

Leaves are large and soft, so expect creasing or a torn edge after transit. Trim the worst of it and the next flush covers the gap. Expect new canes within four to six weeks in warm weather. Delivered Australia wide, delivery from $29.95, minimum order of $300 before delivery, and every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Poolside plants for Australian gardens
• Browse the wider tropical garden plants range
• Compare other plants safe for pets
• See what else suits a poolside garden

Common questions

How far apart should I plant it for a screen?

One metre apart in a single row. Closer than that and the clumps compete without closing any faster, which just makes feeding and watering harder.

Why has mine not flowered?

Shell ginger flowers on second year canes, so a plant cut to the ground each winter never reaches flowering age. Leave the canes standing and the sprays arrive in late spring.

Will frost kill it?

Light frost burns the foliage but the clump usually reshoots from the base in spring. Repeated hard frost is a different matter, so in cold districts grow it in a pot you can move under cover.