Bird of Paradise
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This is a beautiful picture of a Bird of Paradise flower. Amazing, I have never seen one of these up close! Thanks for sharing David!
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Terri Bianchini
5:56 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Mine will not flower. I hear that if you position the right and left leaves the way they split to East and West it will flower. Mine are North and South so I will try it. Any other advice? Mine is 5 years old and has never flowered.
David Binder
2:14 pm on Friday, September 21, 2012
Terri I'm sorry to take so long to reply. I don't believe position has much to do with it as on the plant they grow in all directions. The BIGGEST factor is climate. Unfortunately our cold (even last year was cold by tropical standards) have more to do with it. Strelitzia reginae requires Zone 7-9 (us barely) which means fairly constant temps above 60 degrees. Bringing it inside helps, as long as it's in a window that gets full direct sunlight. Also these beautiful plants are slow to mature to flowering. Usually 5+ years. My suggestion is hang in there. Don't give up. A good 20-20-20 plant food (I use Peters) on a weekly basis in Summer helps.I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing your flowers next year.
Sharon Swanepoel
7:45 pm on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Maybe David can weigh in - not sure if he grows them or just photographs them. Any advice from me would absolutely not help. It is safe to say that my thumbs are not even remotely green!