Wow, Your not kidding newbie,I will give a little advise, first, Look for rhizomes/bulbs not seed. If you could plant possibly where you get morning sun and afternoon shade it would really help the plants to not scorch, I know nothing about zoning or climate for Los Angeles, You can often find the rhizomes on ebay but try gingersrus He has a huge variety and enough information to fill several books. Also to gain more knowledge do a search on this forum There is a ton of info. from experts and beginners and many topics covered. Many people also do trades swapping for a variety or species and varieties within species. I hope this helps some James in Florida

Doesn't appear so. See link where it says this "Root - cooked. A famine food used when all else fails" "Famine food" is always a key phrase meaning it doesn't taste good, has limited (if any) nutritional value, but it won't kill 'ya if you eat it! FataMorgana Here is a link that might be useful: Pfaf.org - hedychium coronarium

I've had trouble getting any form of Opuntia santa-rita or O. chlorotica (which is closely related) to survive in our climate, no matter how far cold and wet of an area it was collected from. I think they are generally more difficult to maintain here than most of the hardy Opuntias. I even had a collection of O. chlorotica from 6,000' just below the Mongollon Rim in central Arizona that didn't make it. I'm not giving up yet, though.

I have a number of ornamental gingers. Some are very prone to their main shoots being attacked by caterpillars. I never actually see the caterpillars, so the destruction is done before I have a chance to act. These plants never go onto flower. Other types of ginger are never attacked it seems. Any suggestions?