Grower Information - Cut-flowers

The Darwin Collection of Alpinia Gingers 

The Darwin Collection consists of:

In 1987, the Horticulture Division commenced a program of importation and evaluation of a large selection of tropical cut-flowers.

The now popular Alpinia purpurata series, known as "The Darwin Collection", were bred from these earlier introductions.

The NT floral emblem for the Centenary of Federation, the "Federation Lady" was sourced from the earlier Alpinia crossings and is now in high demand throughout Australia.

Improving Cut-flower Etlingera

The genus Etlingera, belongs to the large Zingiberaceace family that comprises of a number of cut-flower gingers.  Commonly known as the 'torch ginger' flower it contains a large number of varieties of different colours, forms and sizes.

As a cut-flower it lacks a good vase-life.  Most of the torch ginger varieties only last for about 6 to 7 days.

Intensive hybridising of Etlingera varieties was undertaken to improve vase-life.  Parents with good vase-life were crossed with parents selected for specific traits such as colour. form and yield.

Hybrid seedlings successfully generated are currently being assessed and screened for their vase-life performance.

Advanced selections will then be evaluated by the Cut-flower Growers Group for suitability as commercial varieties.

Darzing

Heliconia

Heliconia psittacorum

Wildflowers

Zingiber

Others

Other Information

• Primary Industry Market Indicator (PIMI)
• Availability and Storage Conditions - Nursery and Cut-flowers [Information Sheet IS3]
• Flower seeds for Central Australi [Information Sheet IS7]
• Information for Prospective Investors in Agricultural Enterprises in the NT
• Research Results - Cut-flower (Tropicals - general)
• Production Trends in the NT
• Cut-flower Growers Group (link to web site)