Tropicals & Tender Perennials: 'Phoenix' bird or paradise, 1 by dyzzypyxxy

dyzzypyxxy wrote:
Hm Phil, if you want your plants to keep blooming, you actually need to pick off any seeds you see for a while. IF you let too many seeds mature on the plant, then it says "phew, my job is done" and tapers off with the flowers.

Towards late April, you can start letting the seeds mature. Mine self-seeded from last year, it turns out. I even got some of the pretty pale yellow variety that I had planted. Sometimes they cross with other colors and you get flowers of a color you've never seen before, too. Sort of fun, actually. The dark red ones I really loved didn't come back, though.