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Bird of Paradise

balcony

By balcony

7 comments


My ‘Bird of Paradise’ has just started to open its very first ever flower today! I’ve been growing this in our kitchen for about 5 years. It came from some seeds my son brought me back from a holiday in Spain. There were only 3 or 4 seeds in the packet but only 2 germinated. One of those died a few weeks later. So this one has had to endure life with me all this time.

Bird of Paradise just repotted

I repotted it in a big pot this year, in the spring, & even put it outside on the balcony for a couple of months. I had to bring it in again as the leaves being so big took up far too much space & I found it difficult getting around it.

When I sowed the seeds I knew they would take a long time to flower, if ever, so I thought of it more as a foliage plant than a flowering plant. So I was surprised a couple of months ago when I noticed a l-o-n-g, what I thought was a leaf growing. As it began to curve sideways I hardly dared to hope it might be a flower stem!

1st bud 16th November 2023

It’s developed much quicker than I thought it would; I didn’t expect it to open till well into January at the earliest!

Well it’s opened today – an early Christmas present!

This is a very close up macro shot

The whole plant

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Comments

 

How amazing Balcony -so pleased for you - it makes everything worthwhile when a plant bursts into flower - well done - we saw them growing in large clumps in Madeira a couple of years back a really elegant plant- thanks for sharing

2 Dec, 2023

 

Thank you very much for your lovely comments & I'm glad you like the pictures! 👍

2 Dec, 2023

 

Your patience is rewarded … so exciting!

2 Dec, 2023

 

Well done Balc! And the wait was truly worth it. What a beauty it is, you must be so thrilled...

3 Dec, 2023

 

Thank you, all! Yes, I'm very pleased with it, all the more when I wasn't expecting anything perhaps for a few more years, if ever.

It has "repaid" me for potting it up in a much bigger pot this year! I had read it was better for them to be potbound but that doesn't seem to be the case! It can't be potbound when it's been in this much bigger pot for only 6 months!

I took photos of when I repotted it & the roots then were massive - they were pushing the plant out of the pot which is why I decided to get a bigger one.

Some people I've shown the photos to say it reminds them of the "Triffids"! 😆 😆 😆

4 Dec, 2023

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