Ginger, Japanese

This (in our climate) fairly hardy Japanese ginger (or Miyoga) is a close relative of true ginger. However, you don't eat the rhizome (which is even poisonous), but the young growth buds of the leaves and the flower buds! You will rarely find them commercially available here, and then only in Asian specialty stores. The taste is much milder than regular ginger. The flowers are usually chopped raw and added to various Japanese dishes. The flowers are sterile (they don't produce seeds), so the plant can only be propagated by root division. The flowers do not emerge above the leaves (as with regular ginger), but grow on a small stalk at the base of the plant.
In short, in addition to being an ornamental foliage plant for the garden, it also provides an occasional delicacy on the plate! Give them a shady spot that doesn't get too wet.

Names:
Latin: Zingiber mioga
Dutch: Japanse gember
Also known as: Miyoga
English: Japanese ginger