I lost my mind this weekend and bought a white bird of paradise and a plumeria at the local lowes. I have repotted both of them and hope they will do fine. This is my first year with tropicals and I hope I can lean on some of you when the problems start arising after the joy of getting new plants is over. Is there any beginner advice you would give on either of these two plants? Thanks for all replies.
Now I've done it!
No advice about the plants.
Just some advice about tropicals...they are VERY addictive (especially if you live in a cold climate but yearn for the tropics). Best of luck experimenting with new plants!
ROX
I've had mine for 2 years, still no bloom. I love the foliage 'tho.
Like a goofball, I planted the white BOP inside the greenhouse in the ground. It has quadrupled in size with leaves the size of this desktop. Unfortunately, I'm having to consider taking it out. It's too big, making too much shade, and I know it will never flower for me. Really cool plant, though.
Check out the Plumeria forum: http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/plumerias/all/
Plumerias are totally addictive.
SB
Well I made the classic rookie mistake. I bought the plant and THEN read about them on the internet. I also bought a white BOP not knowing that it gets that big. Is there anyway to prune or trim them to keep them around 6'-7'? I do not believe they will make it during winter outside, I have purchased a greenhouse to keep the tropicals in but I am afraid it will be to big for that in the near future. Any suggestions?
I think if you keep it in a pot it will grow slower and not get as big as it would if you put it in the ground, but if it has to be a certain size in order to bloom then it may take many years to get there (or you may never get there) if you keep it in a pot. You definitely will need to bring it in for the winter though, same with the plumie. I'm not sure what zone you're in and I know Texas is in a lot of different zones so I don't even want to guess, but if you're in zone 9, especially zone 9b you might be able to get away with growing the other BOP Strelitzia reginae outside in the ground--I see people do it here all the time. I know all the BOP's are listed as zone 10, but I think that one's a bit hardier than the others, although not 100% reliable if you get too much frost.
Jfred. I bought a BOP when I had not a clue as to how to care for it. I potted it as a houseplant and the plant kept its size under control. After 7 years or so I decided it was too tall for house so I transplanted outdoors, inground, part sun. doing fine.
All this to say, I think a pot will control its growth, at least for a while. As all have said here, plumies and BOP are addicting. Agree w/ ecrane, it not an indoor plant, you will have to bring indoors in the winter for sure.
I have a big white BOP at one end of my pool in the ground in full FL sun. Two years ago one of the trunks was about 25 feet high. During our 2 major hurricanes that season that trunk broke and brought down my screened pool enclosure -- frame and all. Those trunks get like trees and they're very heavy. They also send out lots up 'pups' and you'll get new trunks growing all around it. The flowers are also amazingly heavy and fill with some kind of sap or other liquid that the birds and bees and wasps like to drink.
I've let mine grow back but I'm keeping the pups under control so it doesn't go nuts. I don't have to worry about the pool screen anymore since I fenced instead of replacing it -- I got sick of replacing screen every time the wind blew hard. It is a magnificant looking plant. I'd agree with others that if you want to keep it under control, plant it in a pot but plan on a huge pot if you really want a specimen plant.
Here's mine today -- you can see it's already towering over the fence.
-- Vicky
WOW! What a beautiful BOP. I have mine planted in about a 20 -25 gallon container. It is only about 4' tall. I plan to move it in the garage or greenhouse this winter. I live in zone 8 near Dallas so our winters are usually not that severe. I suppose limiting the size of the container is the only way to keep them shorter. Once the plant blooms (if it ever does) do you cut down the plant that bloomed or does it continue to grow and bloom again?
It grows flowers in groups. Once a flower opens the plant will grow additional flowers connected to that first one just above it. I just cut down a big group since they were getting brown but the plant has started other groups. You can see two flowers in the pic here and a third coming out on top. The groups are usually from 2-4 or 5 flowers. The stalk that produced the flowers will produce other flowers usually higher up -- you don't cut any of the stalks down.
-- Vicky
This message was edited Jul 26, 2006 12:16 PM
