They don't actually die when they freeze in my zone (8B) they just go into temporary suspended animation. Hedychiums that freeze to the ground here try to start pushing new growth almost immediately after they freeze sometimes...if its 25 for just one night, then back up to 40-60 for a week, they will put up new growth, then of course if its 25 again, well you get the picture. I have tons of stands of different hedychiums, probably over 30 different stands, and all froze to the ground this winter, and all are back now, 3-4 ft tall. 2 good gingers that almost always stay up for me (they DO get leaf burned sometimes but it takes about 20-22F to do it) are Alpinia zerumbet (the NON varigated form) and Alpinia formosana (the "pinstripe" ginger) Globbas are the latest gingers to arise out of dormancy here, I think they are pretty short lived for that reason. They don't come up until late April/early May, after everything else is up, so to me they are shortest lived. AT the moment, Hedychiums, costus, and curcumas are up here; Kaemferias and Zingibers will be next, then globbas.

That particular hedychium is hardy to zone 7. It will die back to the ground in harsh winters (like the winter we are having this year) but resprout in the spring and bloom by mid to late summer. Steve

Wild ginger and edible ginger are different. Not that you couldn't try eating it. fyi--there are many types of ginger. including the wild yellow and white and shampoo which grow wild in Hawaii. There is also a type that they pickle the flower heads that grow out of the ground from the rhizome. I once had it, but I lost it unfortunately. The flowers on commercial ginger are not at all like those of the wild ones. There is also a cultivated 'blue' ginger, which is also grown for its flowers not as food.

Best ginger cookies I've ever eaten were from a small cookie storefront at the Kensington High St tube station in London. They were a soft cook with chunks of candied ginger in them. Scrumptious! I'm so in hope they're still there 8 years later when I go to London in April! I can taste them now!