Bird of Paradise that does not bloom

My friend says it is healthy looking but has never bloomed.
She brought it from California a couple of years ago to Iowa. Not enough sun? need special Fertilizer? What do I tell her?

Thanks
TLC

Hi TLC, maybe your friend bought a Giant Bird of Paradise. They are also known as white bird of paradise. Strelitzia nicolai. Also, the reg. BOP can sometimes take up to 7 years to bloom also. Long wait for such a beautiful flower.

They need lots of sun in summer, some sun in winter...keep moist in summer..less in winter.and feed often in summer. the more leaves it grows the better it will bloom. I had an adult plant years ago I gave away because it never bloomed..then the new owner put it in his greenhouse..now it has a dozen blooms at a time on a huge plant..GGRRR! LOL

Thanks guys,
I will pass the info along. In California you see them all over the place and I had never given any thought that they might not bloom easily. The ones out there seemed to be very big, old and messy looking. So I never wanted one for my house there. When they bloom ~ cetainly are beautiful!
TLC

So does the giant BOP ever bloom(the white)
I have one and ya know,it has never bloomed......

CC, yes they do bloom,but are rarely seen, the plant can grow up to 20 ft in the right conditions. Blooms have a reddish spath, white sepals and a blue-black tongue.

I have had two birds of paradise in my backyard here in sunny California for 4 years. They are of the smaller variety and need full sun all day.They do not like temperatures below 45 degrees.These are tropical plants, however they will thrive in areas of low humidity.Mine are in the ground and are about 4 feet high.I water them once a week summer and winter and feed them with a general purpose fertilizer.When I first planted them 4 years ago it took a year before they had any flowers.Now they are growing very well and each has about 6 flowers.

Plantsforever

Don't feel bad, mine has never bloomed either! It is probably 6 years old & over 5 ft. tall.

It needs to be transplanted again VERY badly! Definitely a project that needs to be done outside!! It lives year round in our sun room by a South facing window and the humidity is always at least 50% or higher. Perhaps I will gradually move it outside, once the temperatures warms up and the snow melts off our deck :~). I just hope I can get it through our doorway! I have several trees that are just too heavy and big to move!!! We use a rollable dollie to "scoot" them around the Sun Room when I need to clean. :~)

I will now begin gradually fertilizing my plants and when I re-pot this monster, I am going to add those polymer crystals that help to keep the soil moist. I probably have been keeping it to dry.

Hey what wrong with mine? they are only 3 years old and they bloom all the time ;)

Nothing wrong with your "Birds of Paradise" Brugmania.It appears that you have the large variety.In reply to Shirley 1md,you need a lot of humidity for yours because it is indoors and the air is too dry.If you add a humidifier to your furnace that would not only be more beneficial to the plant but to you and your family.I know because I am orginally from Michigan.Plantsforever

Giant BOP is strelitzia nicolai, the blooming house plant and landscape type is Strelitzia reginae.

I've grown both in pots in a colder climate and after ten years never had much success with either. I'm very lucky to have a large enough garden to display both types to there best advantage.

I had mine in the ground all summer and repotted it in the fall,it seems happy in the GH,but no blooms in sight.
The ones I started from seed were the Strelitzia reginae,there are about 3 or 4 of them ,but they are no where near big enough to bloom.......

CC, Eclipse mentioned it before but with the S. reginane it has something to do with the number of adult leafs before it blooms. Once in a while I will get a pup that blooms while attached to the clump that is quite small, but they are far and few in-between, when I remove them they continue to bloom.