I think a picture would be very helpful in id'ing exactly what you have.

Not all gingers go dormant and many can survive zone9 without a problem. You have no reason to cut it down, when it has survived just fine. Many gingers need 2nd year growth to bloom anyway.

From your description, sounds like Hedychium greenei. It produces plantlets on the spent inflorescence-- were the flowers kind of red-orange? You can remove the plantlets when they're @6" tall, and root them in pots, then cut back those stalks if you want, they won't bloom again. Any blooms will come on new growth, and more plantlets will follow.

Thanks for your reply. I'm going to get out there on Thursday and post a pic of this. The leaves are very bronzy in color and the flowers, which came quite late (Sept/Oct) were orange. I could not see a picture on the web of this plant, because the red ones I saw had green topsides/burgundy undersides on the leaves, unlike mine.

Can you confirm that the term "inflorescence" means the spent part of the flower? I think the plantlets are almost ready to cut away, so I'll post a picture soon (can't now, though, at work...work interferes with my gardening, dang it). Thanks!

"Inflorescence" refers to the flowering structure of a plant, which may contain many individual flowers, as is generally the case with gingers.

Hedychium greenei is usually olive green on the upper side of the leaves and deep burgundy on the underside and stem. Offhand, I can't think of anything that matches your description that is equally bronzey on both top and bottom, unless that could just be the result of somewhat stressful growing conditions: low nitrogen, low temperatures, or something like that. I'll wait for a picture to know for sure.

If it is greenei, you shouldn't have to do any cutting to remove the plantlets-- they'll pop off real easy in your hand when they're ready.

It could be Zingiber 'Midnight'. Mine has turned an orangey/bronze color for the winter. But in the summer it is very dark chocolate/black.

Here is a link that might be useful: zingiber 'Midnight'

Zingiber 'Midnight' is a really cool plant (see my pic in the gallery), but I don't think it's what yogafemme has, because the blooms are at the base, not the tips of the stems, and it doesn't form plantlets.

Sorry for my slow follow-up on posting a picture. I finally got one taken and transferred to my site. Lisa was right; it is Hedychium greenei. For some reason my memory sucks (maybe because I have selective memory or that I'm over 40). Anyhow, I just kind of "forgot" that the topsides were green and the undersides were burgundy! Here's a picture of the plant with the new plantlets still on there. Thanks so much for all your help!

{{gwi:841886}}

Yep, it sure is! And those 2 plantlets, the one in the middle and on the left, are ready to pop off and pot up if you want. If you leave them on the plant they'll eventually either fall off on their own or the weight will bend the stem down to touch the soil. They really try hard to plant themselves!

thanks Lisa, the perfect plant to give to friends!