The BoPs in the Helsinki Botanical looked great yesterday, they were all blooming :)
Blooming Strelitzias
Evert we call this form..double flowered..notice the flower comming out of the first flower! I wish I could find a plant of this one again.Seems to be a seed mutation. Very nice pic! keep em comming! :-)
That is so pretty, how old of a plant is it? Have heard they have to be at least 7 yrs. old before blooming.
Beautiful, Evert!
eclipse, I don't think the 'doubles' are a different form. All of them seem to make double flowers occasionally.
Hibiscus, they have to be well established and undisturbed to flower well. Every time you repot, transplant or divide a Strelitzia reginae it can take several years again to flower, even if it is 20 years old.
Mine has just started its flowering season again, and two weeks ago I harvested the seed of last year's. Anyone want any?
maddy
So that means that when I take it out of its pot and stick it in the ground for the summer I'm doing a bad thing ,huh?
And then digging it back up in the fall is a bad thing too.........
Oh, absolutely! this plant will never flower for you this way.
Rather put it in a large pot and drag it in and out.
Maddy
How 'bout if I dig a hole and drop the whole pot and plant in the ground(Its my tropical garden)
They go in the GH for the winter with the nanas and brugs and stuff.......
Yeah, that would be perfect - that way the roots do not get disturbed.
Actually - I should not have said never, because things like that usually come back to haunt me! Should have said: will most likely not bloom...
Well, I hope it flowers for you soon!
maddy :-)
I was once told to keep them cramped in a pot to bloom. Is this true, or should I give mine some space? Mine's about 7 and never a bloom, and not even an offset. Maybe I'm suffocating it?
Nice picture Evert!
I have an old Gardenbook for nurseries.I have read that Strelizias need a 7 week reting time without water, this will push the buds to come.
My one bloomed each year,I gave it away because I didnīt have the overwintering space.(too much brugs..)
Thank you Ludger, I will take your advice, maybe it can be winter now for some weeks. Maybe late, maybe not.
Lol,I forgot the s in reting..
Dennis, it will work now.I do know some nurseries who use this not watering to get flowers for special termins ( easter,christmass..)like you do with Cymbidia.
Dennis, the resting period would work best in the middle of summer, as Strelitzia reginae's natural flowering period is from autumn through winter into spring, until it gets too hot in summer when it rests.
However, I do not know if it can be coaxed into flowering this way. It doesn't have to be, because I live in a summer rainfall region, where it gets rain (sometimes lots) and also the watering from the hose when I water the rest of the garden. Therefore, no dry rest for my plant, but it rests anyway. No flowers in summer, but from now (remember, it's autumn for me now) until late spring it will be growing one bloom after the other. I do give it extra water in winter. In winter we get temperatures occasionally down to freezing and slightly below, it doesn't mind but it is planted in a fairly protected corner. These guys are tough. (this goes for plants in open ground. A plant in a pot will be more susceptible to the cold)
Dennis, I think it would be much happier with adequate root space. Possibly you are suffocating it. How large is the pot you have it in, and how large is the plant now?
You can keep any plant in any size pot you like, but they do grow stunted. If you want it to flourish it is a good idea to find out what the size of a naturally grown mature plant will be and chose the pot size accordingly. The mature leaf length (= overall height, as it is stemless) is around 1,5 meters (5 feet), therefore you need a mighty big pot as, once mature, it will increase in width by making offsets.
There is a dwarf variety on the market now, which only grows to about 2 feet.
I do not believe in pot-bound plants, especially those which need to be well established and undisturbed in order to do well.
Hope this helps
maddy
Thanks Maddy for all the great information. I wasn't aware it could take below zero temps! I have always brought mine indoors at about 8'C. Good to know it can stay a bit longer. I'm embarrasssed to say how small the pot is, it's a 5g. Yes, I will pot it up this week! Thanks.
There is of course a difference between a -2C in the early hours of the morning which turns into 18C by lunchtime with sunshine all day long, or a -2C which barely makes it above freezing during the day which also might be dull and overcast. You will have to use your own judgment and work according to your climate.
Dennis, your Strelitzia will be so happy to get into a bigger pot! :-)
And maybe one day, when it is all grown up, it will look like this:
What a nice shot!
Thanks everyone. You've had a nice discussion, haha ;)
My own Strelitzia just "opened" a new big leaf :D