Once again she is performing. Only one bloom this year but she is due a new pot.
The way you've captured the picture EJ really makes it look like a bird!! Thin neck, wings and tail up and that gorgeous head. is there anything you CAN't grow. ;D
Beautiful :)
oooooooohh now! EJ-questions questions! if i may.
have you grown it from seed? and i wonder how old it is. i ask because i manged to germinate 3 plants from seeds, now 2 years old, but i understand it may be some time yet before i can anticipate a beautiful flower like that? and how do you care for them? i'm finding their roots reaaaaaaaallllllllly fleshy and chunky and hating to be constricted - think that's what's limiting mine, as my mum's, which is in a bigger pot, is far larger than mine.
so lovely to have at this time of year.
Seed grown when God was a boy! I always think of it as about 15 years old, but let me have a think.....nope, I would say it is nearer 20 years old and it has only been flowering for 3 years. Patience huh, so unlike me! As it has grown, so the pots have grown and it is in desperate need of repotting as it is positively bulging out of its current pot, but I have no idea what I am going to put it into as the pot it is in is huge! I feed, when I remember, during the summer, either tomato feed or a all purpose house plant fertliser and the compost it is in is general multi purpose compost with a little of my own compost just to beef it up. It is watered a lot during the summer months as my conservatory does get super heated, but in the winter, it goes weeks without water. I believe they do not like to be overheated and will benefit from some shading. I also understand they will be quite happy outdoors during the warmer summer months, being sure to bring them in before the temperatures drop. I assume that the lower light levels and cooler temps are what prompts it to flower, in the same way my Christmas Cacti all do there thing at this time of year.
I have a stack of baby strelizias growing from seed, all started early last summer. Black, yellow and the traditional orange. Think I will be leaving them to the grandchildren!!!
ps for Eileen....plenty! :-\
thanks EJ :) never heard of black and yellow ones! patience is a virtue then, and i will treat them to bigger pots.
You can see a couple of the different types on ebay:
http://search.ebay.co.uk/strelitzia_W0QQfltZ9
I think they look fantastic ;D
Such a lovely flower EJ. My mum has one growing in her front garden in Tassie, it came with the house. :)
had a look at that ebay link. isn't it tempting!? always wonder just quite how honest people are though, with these, by the time it takes x years to flower, and then-the wrong colour! i have bought other things from ebay, just not seeds...yet............!