Strelitzia Species, Giant Bird of Paradise, Natal Strelitzia, Wild Banana

I've been looking into the strelitzia nicolai, appropos to my Phoenix, AZ garden, for a couple years now. I have a "sub-tropical" theme g...Read Moreated front garden facing almost purely east as there are walls on the north, south, and west side. Since we have such hot summers and perception of the heat is in no small part psychological, I do not allow any red-orange to yellows in this "shade" garden. The deep blue green leaves and surreal white and blue flowers of the white bird of paradise are now the focal points. We've planted them on the south side next to a wall that continues around the west side and protected to approximately 10 feet from high winds. They flank a patio/seating area that is a mix of aggregated block with space left for dichondra to grow between pavers. I have the contributors to DG to thank for what is not only a lovely outdoor space, but a highly practical one, as well. And, the growers at 'Almost Eden' for some of the highest quality of nursery plants I have ever encountered!

I was told by a nursery that Bird of Paradise cannot stand full sun. My landscaper mistakenly planted Bird of Paradise instead of the Red...Read More Bird of Paradise which thrives in full sun. Since it's now fall, the plants should have a whole year to climatize to our intense heat. & full sun all day long in dry weather. They're small & hopefully will adjust to full days of sun.

One bit of information that hasn't been mentioned about this plant is that it is a bird magnet. Spot-breasted oriole, red-bellied woodpe...Read Morecker, palm warbler and others are attracted to the flowers. If you live in an area where you can plant this outside; once it has blossomed you will be amazed at how many birds it attracts.

I adopted a potted strelitzia nicolai from a VCR repair shop many years ago. The owner just happened to be remarking on how he wanted to ...Read Moreget rid of it, and I took it home with me, all 10' high, poking through the roof of a Honda Prelude!

Since then, it has performed very well, providing a tropical motif in my cathedral ceilinged, skylighted bedroom on Long Island, NY. It has grown, been divided, and now both large pots need dividing again! Somewhat damaged while outdoors by some summer storms this year, they are leafing anew with vigor, and are again becoming the luxurious plants they aim to be!

When I divided them, I was surprised by the size and weight of the roots - they were a challenge, indeed!

The sight of these plants was fairly rare in the mid-'80's when I first got them, but they seem to be ubiquitous in lots of magazines, in gardens, and in pots.

They really require very little attention or care, and I love having them!

I have a 10 year old Giant White Bird, very large and very beautiful. I've been caring for her about 8 years myself. I gues the term 'c...Read Morelumping' means :where new branch/trunk/arm develops at the bottom. If so then I understand.

Question: last winter was very cold in Tampa, FL and several of the arms/trunks didn't make it. Can/Should those be cut down or pruned to let the rest of the tree to grow. Will that cause it damage? Should I just leave them? I also have a very tall arm (about 10 meters) pushing against the pool cage. is there anything I can do? I can remove / prune that arm too?

Thanks!

I'm in coastal San Diego. Love the tropical effect but these guys can become a huge mess with maturity. I inherited about 25 plants over ...Read More6 feet tall at the home I recently purchased. I have 5 plants that are 20+ feet tall and impossible for me to trim on my own, they are not attractive with brown leaves and year old blooms still attached. They create such a huge clumping mess that they will knock down fences and decks if unchecked. The blooms are a huge mess on their own as they will drip large amounts of sap during bloom and hang on the tree for a long time after death.
My recommendation: don't plant too many and don't get them too close to fences or deck. Prepare yourself for very regular trimming in maturity. They are beautiful for a tropical look but a little too Home Depot in San Diego where they will grow anywhere.

Despite the hardiness zone ratings here as well in the Sunset Western Garden Book, you will see many healthy old specimen of this plant i...Read Moren gardens in 9b Pasadena, Calif..

So here's the thing: I think they need to be planted with a lot of care, disturbing the root system as little as possible - or you will have a very witholding plant. I also think that in areas with hot summer sun and low humidity, they need partial to full shade. The leaves of these plants are very nice looking at the nursery - but note the conditions. Are they being sold under shade cloth? Mine were, and I think I did not adequately aclimate them to full sun enough, so they had to shrivel up, while producing a new, more sun tolerant set of leaves.

Judging by the plants I see in the neighborhood, they are relatively trouble free once established, but getting one going in full sun is tough.

It seems there is some confusion out there about the differences between S. alba and S. nicolai. Here is some information which should he...Read Morelp, mostly garnered from the Royal Horticultural Society's Dictionary of Gardening published in 1999. I have reordered it a bit so as to make the differences between the two species easier to see at a glance

S. nicolai -
semi-common in cultivation, trunks to 10m, freely clumping, and regularly flowering each spring once mature.
leaf stem (petiole) to 2m, leaf blade to 80cm wide by 2m long
Floral stalk (inflorescence) shortly branched to allow 3 to 5 40-45cm chestnut-red, pruinose spathes per inflorescence
Calyx white, corolla usually light purple-blue, occasionally white but always boat shaped rather than tongue shaped, in addition the
corolla margins are involute, meeting together at their bases.

S. alba -
rare in cultivation, trunks to 6m, rarely clumping, shy or intermittently flowering in the spring once mature.
leaf stem (petiole) to 1m, leaf blade to 60cm wide by 2m long
Floral stalk (inflorescence) unbranching to produce a single 25-30cm purple-red, glaucous spathe.
Both calyx AND corolla are white with the corolla tongue shaped - and the corolla margins overlap at base of the flowers.

Five years ago I planted 1 Giant Bird of Paradise. Since then I have planted 20 offshoots in my yard, and given dozens away. They are b...Read Moreeautiful accents to any garden or landscape. In winter here in Sarasota Florida they can turn to looking as if dead in really cold temps. They always come back in the spring bigger than the year before.

i planted my giant bird of paridise in my back yard last year in seallte sept 06, it has been doing good, i had to cover it with a clea...Read Morer plastic bag for last years snow storm in november, but it did great no noticable damage and i got 2 big leafs this summer, its about 4 ft tall now!

We have this plant growing on the west side of our house. We also have the shorter orange and blue-flowered variety. We enjoy the black...Read More and white blooms and the foliage is tantalizingly tropical. We had a VERY hard frost last year and the plants were bitten...but not smitten...they have come back with green power!

I have a lovely strelitzia, but I do not know how to prune it. Do I remove the leaf that the flower grows from as well as the flower its...Read Moreelf? Anyone out there know ?

I have been growing mine in a pot in the Boston area in its 5th year. I bring it in and out as the seasons dictate. Its stems and leaves ...Read Morenow streach up to 12 feet, but as of yet, no flowers. Mabye this Spring.

I am in Atlanta, Georgia and just bought the White Bird of Paradise a week ago. I have watered it and it was doing fine until today. I...Read More set it out in the sun for about two hours when I noticed the leaves began to roll up. Has this harmed the plant? Will they return to normal again? What do I need to do? Help!

I have had my plant 8 years now, 6 of those years it was in the ground. When I moved I placed it in a very large pot and placed it down ...Read Morein a very swampy area of my yard that received partial shade. This past year, year 7, is the first time it has bloom. Although it is fairly hardy for a tropical, it was pretty much zapped with our temps in the low 20's as the plant was too large to bring in.

Even when not in bloom the large leaves certainly lend a tropical look to the landscape.

I live in Palm Desert and was told the plant was iffy here(zone13). In 2.5 years it has gone from 6 ft to about 12 ft tall and has it's f...Read Moreirst flower bud. Yeah!!! It is over 100 degrees all summer long here, so I planted it on a North east wall a few feet from the house. It gets about an hour of sun in the morning and is in the shade the rest of the day. It gets trimmed regularly by the gardeners and watered twice a day on a drip system in the summer. We have a lot of wind here and the leaves do get a bit tattered but I love it. We can see it from our living room window and it is impressive. I will upload a photo of the new bud.

For fast growth fertilize heavily,and abundant water. It DOES make a difference. Also if planted in the cool Bay Area shade, growth come...Read Mores to a crawl. A sun lover that thrives on reflected heat from south or western facing walls. They make great houseplants-fast growing inside given enough light.

Easy to grow here. Plants in pots stay relatively small. Plants in the ground grow quickly. Mine produces seeds but the critters (squi...Read Morerrels?) get them before I do. Strong wind tears up the leaves, but replacements grow in quickly, so it doesn't look shabby for long.

I give this plant a "neutral" rating because I've only had it for one year and know little about it. I live in Sacramento, CA (don't kno...Read Morew the zone) and I am new to the world of gardening. I spotted this plant at Home Depot and thought it would look great behind our pool's waterfall... which it does. I am at a loss on how to prune this plant. Do I cut back the leaves that have died or heavily torn due to wind? How far to cut back? What else is needed to keep it healthy besides water and fertilizer? It looks great so far! No blooms yet, but I love the plant for it's big leaves, tropical feel, and so far... no mess.

Very attractive for landscaping! Grows well in Florida as far north as zone 9a.

OK I BOUGHT 2 PLANTS FROM WALMART A WEEK AGO FOR ABOUT $13.00 AND THEY LOOKED GREAT. PLANTED ONE AND LEFT THE OTHER IN THE POT. COULD NOT...Read More PASS UP THE DEAL ON THE PRICE FOR THIS AREA. BOTH ARE IN PARTIAL SHADE AND WATERED REGULARLY WITH SOME PLANT SPIKES ADDED. PROBLEM IS THAT THE LEAVES STARTED TO ROLL UP BEFORE SPIKES ADDED. TIME IS AUGUST AND TEMPS ARE 90-100 WITH RAIN A FEW DAYS. ALLTOGETHER A MILD SUMMER HERE IN CENTRAL TEXAS. SOIL IS LOAM, CLAY AND RICH BLACK DIRT. OTHER PROBLEM IS NOW ABOUT 2 WEEKS LATER YELLOW AND BROWN SPOTS ON THE LOWER LEAVES HAVE STARTED FORMING. I WOULD HATE TO HAVE THESE DIE OFF AFTER SEEING THE ONES IN ORLANDO SURVIVE AND BLOOM BEFORE AND AFTER HURRICANE CHARLIE! ANY IDEAS!?!?!?!?

Mature plant tend to become a mess and need pruning and cleaning. There are much more impressive plants for tropical effect. Like Ravenala.

I have lived in this house for 13 years and have never seen this tree bloom and didn't even know or care what the name was until it start...Read Moreed to bloom. I live in American Canyon, California, near Napa. The weather does get into the 100's at times but mostly mild temps and I do have to deal with the wind. There are 5 blooms and it is a beautiful site, but it was planted too close to the house, so it will have to be cut down.

Birds of Paradise normally only bloom after the plant is 3 to 5 years old.

I live in Ormond Beach, Florida. My plants are...Read More outside and doing great this year.

I have 6 plants. Two are 4 year old plants and, they are already blooming. I have 8 blooms between them.

I have 4 2-1/2 year old plants and they are about 5 feet tall. No Blooms at all this year.

Also, I have discovered a way to keep the deer away from your plants. Last year I had my first blooms and the deer ate them.

So here it is.........

Cut a bar of Dial soap in half. Place each half in each leg of a pair old panty hose. Knot panty hose at the top of the legs and cut away excess.
Place on plant so Dial soap is on either side of plant. This works on any plant that deer tend to favor.

Don't laugh it works. The Deer have not touched my blooms year this.

Try it. It works

This plant will grow in New Orleans, though it rarely flowers here. Even in protected locations, it seems to get knocked down every seve...Read Moren or so winters. Usually recovers from roots, but is a slow grower. Great for foliage, which gets to be about four to seven feet (one to two meters) tall before getting knocked down.

I'm in zone 9b (?) in deep, deep south Texas, USA. I aquired this plant less than two years ago and it's still relatively small (4-5'). ...Read More It still hasn't bloomed but then neither has my "regular" size bird that's about the same age. It's planted in clay soil that has been amended and is in full sun from dawn to dusk. The leaves are beautiful and handle the wind in our area, sometimes strong, quite well. I'm patiently awaiting our first flowers....

I grew White Bird of Paradise in the ground in St. Petersburg, Florida, zone 9b, for about 10 years and never once had a flower. It had ...Read Morea partly sunny location, protected under the eaves of the house, facing southwest, in a corner where a six foot tall fence met a corner of the house. It survived 18F degrees cold, hurricane wind and rain, hail, and a small tornado, probably due to its sheltered location, but I think we sacrificed flowers for this shelter.

It was a georgous, green vertical accent in the front yard. I've read that it can grow to 30 feet tall and will survive down to about 28F degees. Eventually this plant got too large for it's location, touching the eaves, and as I was moving, I sold the plant to a new homeowner with a much sunnier location, where hopefully it finally flowered.

When I bought my first plant in the 1980's they were quite rare and expensive, but the one I have now, growing in a pot in Northcentral Florida, zone 8b--where it has to be overwintered in a greenhouse--was purchased at WalMart for $12.95. It was about four feet tall when purchased last year, and is now about five feet tall, with several new leaves. And although it's spent the summer in full morning sun, it still hasn't flowered. I fertilize frequently with a balanced fertilizer, and water daily, as the clay pot dries out rapidly, and has great draiage. Next year I might try to push the plant to flower with specialty bloom fertilizer.

This current plant in a pot has a baby, and they will soon have to be divided and repotted. I think I will probably try division next Spring, to give the plant the whole Summer to recuperate. I never divided the one in St. Petersburg, and eventually it grew to a huge clump of stalks and leaves.

I hope someday to see this beautiful flower, if I'm patient enough! I've never had any problems with bugs or disease, but occasionally the wind tatters the leaves.

I am a recent new owner of a "White Bird of Paradise". I fell in love with this plant because of the beautiful leaves and that it is perf...Read Moreect for the sun conditions in which I live. However I came home today and noticed that there were little black (I think bugs); they wiped right off but I don't know what they are, when I wiped them off with just water they turned red (not blood but a reddish/pink color.)

I have five "Bird of Paradise" plants that I bought from a nursery. They were originally about 18 inches high when we planted them 11 yea...Read Morers ago.

I live in the hills of Pittsburg, California (U.S.) where the soil is very heavy clay. We added soil amendments, and were lucky enough to get flowers the first year afterwards. Each plant puts out several flowers, some double blossoms. Of the five, two are under a C. mexicana ("Mexican Bird of Paradise") tree, receiving morning sun and then partial shade. Those two are the top producers. The others are in full sun. The stalks get to be 5 to 6 feet high.

We rarely get freezing here but summers can get to 105*F and even 110*F. The wind here can be very strong, and the plants have also weathered the wind well, although the leaves get a bit torn.

I am going to try dividing them, and would like to know what is the best time of year to do that in this climate.
I just read that some of the plant could be poisinous, and I have a young pug dog that unfortunately likes to chew.

We bought a house with four of the biggest "Giant Bird of Paradise" plants I've ever seen; they have approximately 20 or more blooms on e...Read Moreach plant. The stalks and leaves are at least 8 feet tall and so thick that we can't see the blooms, and we don't know how or when to trim them.

The hummingbirds are even having problems getting to the flowers! I want to thin them out but I'm afraid I'll do the wrong thing.

Useful tropical for height. Blooms are an added attraction. Big, banana-like leaves tatter less in the wind than bananas do and it is not...Read More as messy. Also called "White Bird of Paradise". Few seeds set; don't know why. Added in 2007: Sets seeds fairly regularly now. Also note--canes are now up to 12 inches in diameter at base and about 4-6 inches at 6 feet. Really like this plant.