4 or 5 years ago I was over visiting a friend/neighbor's place, looking at his yard/garden.
He had 2 side by side 1 acre lots.
About 1/3 acre was for house and yard.
The balance was made into a landscaped garden of various tropical types of plants, shrubs and trees with foot paths going all around the property to access and view the plantings.
He hired helpers to layout and maintain the garden.
He made a pretty good sized investment in it.
I was green with envy.
As we walked around, he picked a cutting for me, told me it was a Blue Ginger.
There are a lot a different types of ginger that are grown around here.
Looking into what it was, I find that it isn't a ginger.
It is a Dichorisandra thyrsiflora, called Brazilian Blue Ginger.
I took it home, jammed a steel bar down into the ground, stuck the 2' cutting about a foot down into it, then pressed my foot down around it to tamp the soil down.
It didn't do much the first few years, pretty much ignored it.
It didn't die on me, though.
We had the eruption 1 or 2 years later which obviously set it back, again not killing it.
Now, 3 years after the eruption, it has finally grown about 5' tall with a big tassel of pretty blue flowers.
Plus, has sent a runner out and is beginning a second plant that will probably also bloom out next year.
I expect it to continue increasing in size and numbers every year now.
Dichorisandra thyrsiflora - Plant Finder
During the eruption we went back to his place to check on it for him.
The lava had covered over 1/2 of his property and was about to cover his house, yard and driveway.
We sat 20' away from the lava watching it cover his driveway, can't get anywhere near it now.
He's been completely covered.
He now lives in town in a condo.
The garden is gone.
But, I've got a Blue Ginger, thanks to Harry.
Blue Ginger
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