Z

Zamia floridana Northern Strain  COONTIE PALM, SEMINOLE BREAD, COMFORT FOOD  our plants   my yard, new plant   you have to grow this just for the common name, just so you can say to your garden visitors, "Now that, that over there, that's a big ol' Coontie Palm, or Comfort Food as some Gators know it." This is the hardier northern race of the native Floridan cycad, which grows as clustering clump of basal crowns. The glossy, bright green, palm-like pinnate leaves grow to about 2' long with an upright or arching posture. The pith of the prostrate to subterranean trunk is used for food. When you are sick of your plant, dig it up and peel it, grind it, and wash the deadly cycasin out of it and you will have a starchy substance every bit as tasty as acorn flour, or poi. Plants are dioecious (males and females separate) but cone when young. With age the plant will develop a bulbous "trunk" like a small dome with crowns of foliage emerging from it. Old plants in warm locations may reach 4' by 4'. In my cool, shaded Santa Cruz garden the specimen I traded for at a trade show promptly went into a state of suspended animation and waited three years for any indication that a warm spring was about to happen before a gopher ate it and my experiment ended. It was beautiful when it was alive, and I'm going to plant another one, this time in sun. It makes a fantastic and very interesting container plant. It is a slow grower and likes summer watering. Sunset zones 8-9, 14-24/USDA 9. Zamiaceae. rev 2/2010

Zantedeschia aethiopica    CALLA LILY    blue house    with cactus and stairs    old fence    purple    I like purple!    a clumping winter evergreen perennial (unless cut back by frost), dormant and deciduous in summer, easily recognized by its large, dramatic, rather tropical looking arrow-shaped dark green leaves to 3' and giant funnel form white flowers on stalks to 4'. Full sun to mostly shade. Tolerates a complete lack of summer watering, going dormant and reappearing with winter rains but thrives under conditions of ample availability of water. Does best in soils that retain good moisture in winter. Invasive in wet, boggy habitats and naturalized in many places in coastal Central California. It seems to do very well under cool summer conditions. Blooms initiate with short days. A dramatic, first class and expensive cut flower! Hardy to around 15-20°F. South Africa. Araceae. rev 3/2004

hybrids    display at Golden State Bulbs, Pack Trials 2006    these range from deep red through flame orange, yellow, light pink, and pale lavender. They are shorter than the standard white Calla, usually under 2', and much more sensitive to wet soils and frost. All do best in a warm, sunny, well drained spot with rich soil and initiate after a rest and the onset of long days. All make outstanding cut flowers though stems are rarely over 18" tall. They make well-behaved and long-lived container plants and can increase quite quickly. rev 3/2004

Aruba   flowers   deep, clear rose pink flowers, green elaves. rev 4/2008 
Blaze    wonderful flowers    deep red orange, often shot with burgundy, with a little dark gold showing through. rev 4/2006
Candle Glow   flowers    warm rose pink suffused with salmon, often doubled. Leaves are nicely splashed and flecked with white spots.  rev 4/2008 
Cherry Chiffon  flowers  a rather wide range of light pink to deep rose. rev 7/2008 
Fireglow   flowers warm rose pink, small flowers. Leaves are sparsely flecked with white. rev 4/2008 
Flame    wonderful flowers    more    a rehmannii type, this is a robust deep yellow orange, with a red edge, and sometimes deep cranberry with maroon tones. Color darkens markedly with age. Spotted leaves, tall, robust. rev 4/2006
Gold Crown    flowers    a robust, uniform, deep golden yellow. rev 4/2006
Improved Gem Lavender    flowers    says it all. Larger flowers and less color variation from plant to plant. A smaller, more restrained grower than Gem Rose. rev 4/2006
Parfait    flowers    ranges in color, from deep pink through pale pink, with most near cotton candy. Perky. rev 4/2006
Super Gem Rose    flowers    deep rose. rev 2/2003

Zingiber GINGER  I would call this "true ginger" but there are so many genera that produce something we know as ginger I just consider this genus to be one of many. The others are Kaempferia, Alpinia, Hedychium, Costus, and most of which produce ornamental or culinary "gingers.". Most Zingibers are rather warm growers and can be late to emerge in spring. Most are problematic in cool-summer climates. We have tried quite a few and offer them if they prove to be reasonably forgiving growers. Zingiberaceae. rev 8/2008

malaysianum    MIDNIGHT GINGER    nursery plants    flower bud    Huntington Conservatory    reportedly a new species from the mountains of Thailand formerly offered as “sp. Midnight," it has very shiny, dark purple bronze, compact foliage. Greens in shade, color is much darker with some direct sunlight. It hasn't reached over 2' tall in our nursery, and is rather slow. This would be a good species to experiment with as a culinary ingredient because its roots have a wonderful aroma somewhere between classic ginger and sweet allspice. It seems to want a lot of heat, but I am testing it outside in my garden and will know how it does by 2006. It has done well in the East Bay. Actually all the true Zingiber species we have tried have looked like they wanted about 20° more average temperature than we have here in the fog, but we continue to experiment and find species, such as this one, that while slow many do just fine. Flower clusters are narrow yellow cones to about 6" tall that emerge in spring, then quickly age to rose pink. Flowers are minute, pink. It will make a great house or patio foliage plant in warm conditions. Probably USDA zone 9/Sunset zone 16 (with protection) or higher. Should like shade, maybe even deep shade, rich soil, and moisture. Its best use is probably in containers in favored locations. Protect from snails!! rev 7/2005

zerumbet  SHAMPOO GINGER, AWAPHUI  at Lake Merritt   spent flower cones, Kaui   this is what you see growing all over Hawaii. It was originally brought in by the Polynesians, one of their many useful economic cultivars that accompanied them on all their voyages. They used it for soap and for scenting pretty much anything they wanted to make smell better. I heard stories of how Islanders even today would use the sap as shampoo somehow, but that sounded like such an exaggeration. Then when I was in Kauai I found it growing wild all along the path to the stunning Hanakapi'ai Waterfall. I reached down, grabbed one of the red cone-like flower clusters, and gripped hard as I pulled up. My hand was filled with ahighly fragrant, glycerin-like fluid that did a fine job washing my hands. So I tried it as shampoo and dang me if it didn't do a great job, and leave me smelling just like "Hawaiian Ginger Hair Shampoo" when I was done. I decided to try this species as a crop when I found very healthy clumps growing at the Lake Merrit Arboretum in Oakland. If they will do well there, cold wet winters and cool summers and all,  they should be good throughout the Bay Area and most of the rest of Northern California. Expect it to be almost evergreen in the warmer climates of Southern California and deciduous elsewhere. It should do fine all over the Central Valley as well. It will tolerate quite a bit of cold but recovers best with warm springs. The stems of bright green, tropical looking leaves get about 2' tall, the clump can spread to 4' or more in width, and flowers are produced in summer below the leaves. The clusters themselves look like narrow red cones on a stalk, the flowers themselves are very small. It can be quite showy under the right conditions, if you can see below the leaves, and the flower clusters do very well cut. I see no reason why you can't derive nature's own ginger shampoo for yourself. The roots have been used much like common ginger root, and the juices and extracts have a long history as medicinals. This plant has value as an ornamental and culinary item as well as being somewhat of a novelty. For many the highest value will come from reminding them of their time in the Islands. Sun to part shade, average watering. Good in containers, better in the ground. Sunset zones 8-9, 14-24. India to Southeast Asia.  rev 6/2010