Globba schomburgkii is easy to grow and commonly available, but any collector who does not already have it will want it. If you can pronounce it, you can probably grow it. If you have a plant that looks like this and was sold to you under the name Globba bulbifera, then you already have this plant. Globba expert Kyle Williams of Duke University told me that the true G. bulbifera has upright inflorescence instead of the dangling type as this is. Maybe the nursery trade decided the real name was too difficult so they just renamed it for convenience sake.
Globba schomburgkii grows to 3 ft. tall in dappled or light shade, but I am told it can take a fair amount of direct sun. Like Globba globulifera (purple globe ginger), the golden dancing lady ginger will produce prolific "bulbils" which can be sprouted and grown on to mature plants. In my garden they "self seed" from these bulbils, yielding prolific "seedlings" that can be grown on to mature plants. They are not really seeds, but a form of asexual propagation, each growing into a genetic clone of the mother plant.
Globba schomburgkii is hardy at least to zone 8, but it has a natural dormancy period during the winter dry season, even in the tropics, and can easily be lifted for winter storage in colder areas. Mike Bridges (the old Southern Perennials and Herbs in Mississippi) tested it down to 7-ªF and rated it zone 7B, but other catalogs only rate it to zone 9. It has been reliably hardy in my zone 8B garden. It is small enough to be grown in pots and will tolerate low light so that it is suitable as a house plant.
It should be planted in a well drained, organic soil. This ginger is more drought resistant than most gingers, but it prefers regular moisture. Do not keep it too wet during winter dormancy if you leave it outside.
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