Tropicals: My Strelitzias

I really like Strelitzias, and have grown them from seeds. Today I replanted all of them and put to my new plant-shelves. :)

This the smallest one at the moment - Strelitzia parvifolia.

Nice looking plant Evert!!

Mine is starting to bloom again....it starts blooming now and continues throught the winter.

Glory how lucky you are! What color are your's? I've only seen the orangy type, but as cut flowers.

:)

This is the biggest one, not sure which it is, it is one of them which I started first. It can be S. nicolai or S. reginae. I put it to a new pot, I think it looks kinda nice in it.

I was pretty surprised when looking at the roots of all my "birds". They were huge :} I didn't think they were so big already.

Another pic: http://davesgarden.com/journal/viewentry/20400/index.html

This message was edited Saturday, Sep 21st 12:57 PM

Joyce mine is the orange one.

Oh my goodness! Its wonderful. I saw somewhere that there is a white variety...have you seen one of those?

Yes, here is a picture of the white one...took this picture while I was in San Diego.

They are both beauties. I bought one back in July at a half price sale and paid $9.99 for it. The plant was about 8 inches tall. I see that they don't flower until they are at least 5 feet tall or so. The florist shop around the corner from me brought one in back in May. Its now over 5 feet and still has a ways to go before it blooms. They wanted $60 for it...can you imagine paying that for a plant!

S. nicolai and S. augusta are white/black flowered species. They both grow big. I have tosn of seeds from those, my friend in Israel sent them to me.

This one is pretty rare one - Narrow Leaved Strelitzia - S. juncea. (aka S. reginae var. juncea).

The leaves aren't like ordinary Strelitzia leaves. And when the plant gets older the leaves are just like green spikes. :D

It was hard to get a pic of it, sorry for the bad quality..

Leaf close-up

Evert can you find a picture of what the flower looks like for your variety? Thanks, I would like to see it.

Parviflora and juncea have same looking orange-bluish flowers than reginae. They are just a bit smaller I think.

This is what http://banana-tree.com tells about narrow leaved one:

STRELITZIA parvifolia juncea - A Bird of Paradise species that begins its early growth by looking like S. reginae but instead grows into many long spear shaped stalks in a reed-like manner and in clumping form surrounding the flowering "Birds". This uncommon variety is in great demand. Because of seed scarcity we can ship seeds only as they become available

So, juncea has third synonyme too, S. parvifolia juncea.

*sigh*

This message was edited Sunday, Sep 22nd 9:05 AM

Evert did you nick your seeds to get them to germinate? Mine never sprouted even on bottom heat.

Yes I did, and then soaked for 2 days (changed water a few times). I can send you some S. nicolai seeds if you want to try them...

Now see that's what the problem was. I didn't know you had to nick and then soak...sure would like to try them again. Are you looking for something in particular?..email me.