The Strange Beauty Of The Bird-of-Paradise

The plant is trunkless, with stiff, erect two to three feet tall paddle-shaped leaves, slightly concave and most attractive. My plant which is in a large tub and seven years old, had nine flower stalks blooming in late summer so that I had over six weeks of bloom. After the stalks have finished blooming and dried, a friend takes them, paints them black and uses them in dried arrangements.

Strelitzia will endure neglect, but is likely not to bloom. I got my two-year-old plant in an eight-inch pot. Each spring I shifted it to a larger container, finally to a galvanized number three tub, painted green and with handles for easier lugging about the garden.

My plant bloomed when three years old. It has large fleshy roots which should not be damaged when shifting. The best way, when the plant is very large, is to have help. Gently wash away the old soil with the hose, and have ready good humusy soil for replanting.

In the growing season a tablespoonful of commercial fertilizer every three weeks worked into the soil, or a spray with foliar food, and plenty of water keep it happy and growing.

Strelitizia makes a lovely house plant. The stalks of new leaves are rose, gradually fading to green. It may be grown from seeds, suckers or divisions.

Since mine has grown so large and I do not wish to divide it, I winter it in a sunny east cellar window, watering every week but withholding food until spring when it comes forth to decorate the patio. A night temperature of 50 degrees is sufficient. It could be kept indefinitely in one of the large redwood planters on casters as a floor plant. Just change the soil each spring and feed well.

I agree heartily with all the superlatives that garden guests give this beautiful plant. A small tree, Poinciana Gilliesii, is sometimes called the bird-of-paradise.