Just realized tonight the BOP blooms in stages.
"Each Birds of Paradise flower is made up of three upright orange sepals and three highly modified vivid blue petals. Two of the petals are joined together in a structure resembling an arrowhead with the third petal forming a nectary at the base of the flower."
This is so exciting... never had one of these bloom before!
It's so beautiful. Mine is only 4 inches high. I can't wait for it to get big enough to bloom. How long did it take yours.
I obtained it from the Big Island of Hawaii when it was a 6" plant. That was about three years ago. I had heard they had to be close to 12 years old to bloom, but that must be a rumor. The plant could only have been a few years old at most when I received it. It grew into the larger plant it is now fairly quickly (though it's still on the small size for a BOP - maybe 15 or 20 leaves max), but I didn't give it as much attention this year and just set it out in the yard - watered it when I did the rest of the plants, and it had full sun. It looked rather beat up, but the stress must have caused it to bloom. Funny how plants sometimes bloom better when you don't baby them.
My grandmother gave me an older plant two years ago, she says around 32 years old - she started it from seed back when my uncle was in the military and came home from Honolulu. It's never bloomed, so my goal next year is to try and get it to also bloom.
I started my from seed last year and it took 4 months to germinate. I almost forgot about it. I hope you have good luck with your grandmothers and I hope you keep that other beauty blooming always.
4 months?!?! Wow. I've heard they can be really hard to start that way. Course, no one selling the seeds tells you that most of the time, LOL.
Here's another closeup shot. I'll post more as it opens up all the way.
Please do, I want to see how they really look opening up all the way. This is very exciting.
I wish I'd know it would take that long to bloom, I would have gotten a 2-3 year old plant instead. lol
This message was edited Dec 9, 2007 4:12 PM
I meant to mention. I looked back at photos and this bud started to appear sometime in either late August or early September. So it take a good while for the buds to form and bloom too. Nothing happens fast with a BOP apparently.
Keo;
Thanks for sharing the info on your blue BOP, that give me encouragement on mine. I've one for years, some year I'll plant it in the garden, then dig it back up to overwinter - it's making numerous babies, but haven't bloomed. So I'm watching your progress with much anticipation that mine will decide when it's ready to bloom.
don't mess with the roots.... they don't like that. i will make them be less likely to bloom for a while, and grow slower as well as have much smaller leaves. if you want to plant it in the garden, put it in a pot in the ground if it is too cold in the winter to keep it outside
DHS; It's pretty rootbound at present in a small ceramic pot, the parent plant has 4 babies. I'll have to separate the babies soon, or should I just wait it out? It's in the basement with good light source, even that the pot dries out pretty quick, I was planning on devide the thing in early spring? Any suggestion?
I've heard they like to be root bound to bloom, not sure if that's true. I tried everything for years to get the larger one to bloom, and still have had no luck. Next year I'm going to sink them both in the ground in their pots (which is what I did with the one blooming this past year) and see what happens. I also put this blooming one in a better draining soil with perilite.
I've also read they hate their roots being messed with, especially if you divided them that it'll keep them from blooming for a few seasons.
keonikale that BOP is beautiful... I have some seed that I just received in a swap...
Peggy
i made the mistake of messing with mine before i put it into the ground..... now it is hideous. i plan on getting a new one in the spring, and giving this other one away
My plant is seven years old and bloomed for the first time last year. It put out five bloom spikes!! This year, I only got one. I thought maybe it had something to do with the hurricane. I didn't fertilize it this year, maybe that was it.
Aren't they awesome, though?????
The blooms look almost fake!!
DHS, How could it be hideous? Won't it eventually get back to looking beautiful?
Janet O,
Mine had 5 bloom spikes last year too,and only one this year,makes me wonder,if it blooms like a bi annual tropical???
Wow, I hope mine opens up like that.
One year after I re-potted this one it looked really bad (leaf wise) too. The leaves were incredibly thin (width wise). Hardly could call them leaves they were so narrow. The new leaves from this past summer all looked normal though; still a lot smaller in size when compared to larger BOP's though. That's why I want to try and get the 30 yr BOP out and try getting it to bloom. With it's size, I bet it could put out 5-8 blooms in a season. I may go ahead and pull it from my parents (mostly shaded) greenhouse and put it under my halides (I think it'd get more light that way). I may even go ahead and repot it and hopefully that won't screw it up for next fall's blooming season. It could use a bigger pot and better soil.
Those blue BOP are glorious in Senibel Island Fla.! They must be at least 10-15 feet tall, and the blooms? Heaven!!!
Here is a pic from last year. *sigh*
Biannual??? Does that mean we may get more blooms every other year, or that it will die this year???? LOL!! I sure hope not!!!
Those are absolutely stunning! I hope that it's not a true "biennual" to its definition. lol. I have no clues.
Here is the pf's info. According to Dave's the beauty is indeed a perennial. Hardy only to subtropical climate, overwinter indoor is advisible elsewhere.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/619/
This message was edited Dec 10, 2007 11:29 AM
Ok, ok, how about a False BOP? This one is easily reblooming for me indoor in the basement with bright light source. :-)
Janet,I only meant that maybe it blooms heavy every other year,it is indeed a perennial.
KKE,if it hasn't bloomed in 30 years,I would defineatly repot it and give it more sunshine!
I feed mine 20-20-20 peters every 2 weeks during the summer time.
LL,
I tried 2 years to get one of them to flower,gave up and gave it away
Got great looking foliage for that heliconia,just couldn't get to flower!
Congrats to you!
Don
Thanks Don,
The secrets must be in the potting soil. I purchased this while they were in bloom during the early part of summer. They appear to be so vigorous, so I devided them into two in early Autumn. I gave them partial shade, kept them moist. And they're now reblooming, so good potting medium and partial shade is my conclusion to keep these happy.
Hmm....mine is in the ground in full sun.
I usually use osmocote, no time for the regular feedings. LOL
I just got busy this year, and didn't realize that I didn't even do that.
roby, i meant that it is awkward looking because the leaves have gotten progressively smally in width and shorter, creating a V shape... its really pretty weird
Got ya, they can look pretty bad when they aree like that. Good luck with it.
thanks... i'm hoping our winter ends up turning out like is been going so far.... according to the weather stations we have'nt gotten to freezing yet, but we have had patchy frost..... but nothing that the birds can't handle. if it is mild like i'm hoping, then that will help get them established in the ground and they wil not have to worry about getting over transplant shock and any winter damage
Lucky you, (i'm in the middle of Ice storm warnings til Wed. 6am)
My BOP is about 5 inches tall and in a 5-6inch pot, do you think I should leave it in that pot for quiet a while, maybe transplant it next fall or should the transplants be in the summer.
i'd say summer... just don't touch the roots. i know it will be temptin, them being so thick and chubby, but DON"T!!! i remember when i lived in Lexington near Keonikale. tthey would let us out for 1/2" snow and a tad bit of ice.... no plows or salt trucks down here in SC we were talking 'bout i here... http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/796138/ now we are having spring like temps... highs around 80
Janet, you could frame that photo and sell it.... beautiful.
Don't rub it in DHS, We're at 26 degrees right now and ice everywhere.
I also meant to ask... since someone mentioned Heliconia's above (questions on gingers too). I invested a decent amount of money and time into a few of these plants this past summer. Psittacorum 'Andromeda' (Parrot's Beak), Heliconia stricta 'Iris', Mexican Gold, and Heliconia psittacorum x spathocircinata 'Guyana' to name four Heliconias.
Most of the heliconicas came as rhizomes. I've gotten two of my parrot's beak heliconias to bloom quickly and regularly. But they aren't anything special to me, I really want to see the 'Iris' bloom. What can I do to enhance my chances as the plant matures?And how big of a plant do I need?
I also obtained red ginger, torch ginger, and white ginger. I already had blue and kahili ginger (but only the blue, not even a true ginger, has bloomed). The white ginger bloomed, but the red and torch are far too small. I'm also curious how large my red and torch ginger will need to be. I'm guessing I'll never see a torch bloom unless I use a huge pot where multiple stems can form. I think I can probably get the red ginger to bloom though. The Kahili Ginger, after 3 years, is finally getting pretty large (3' in height or so) and I think it might actually bloom next year.
Just wondering...
This message was edited Dec 10, 2007 7:17 PM
I've planted some Kahili Ginger from tubers this spring, a few have bloomed promptly during the summer. Though they were in sunny spot, and the leaves didn't seem to enjoy the heat. Roughly 50% of they did bloom for me. I haven't had experienced with others....
Robyn, i wasn't trying too... those are just the facts! lol ok i'll stop. even though i love warm weather and the tropics, ice to me is a rare treat.... at least it was in Columbia.... here it an improbable dream.....but one i'd regret with all the damage it would do to the marginal plants
I know, I would hate for all of you to get ice. the rest of us in the cold climates look to you southerners to provides us with pics. Kind of give us our daily dose of greenery. We need that to keep from going insane.
I wish I knew something about Gingers, I don't. I took a tuber from the store and stuck it in dirt to see what would happen. It grew. Can't say it took a lot of water but it hated the sun. It didn't do to much growing above the soil line, I had a few stalks on them, now those are dried and dead and gone.
Ohhh Robyn; here is a link to some of my threads to keep you entertained over the winter months. Enjoy.
Kim
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/792470/
Wow Kim, that is fantastic. Thanks so much.
You have a beautiful place. I'm going to enjoy reading it all. You do give hints and advice along the way don't you? (just in case I need help with something I want to grow)
Any pics of the Kahili Lily? Do the flowers come right out of the top of the stems? Maybe I'll get lucky and have a few before winter's over. It gets pretty good light under the halide.
Keo; there are pic. of the Kahili ginger in my thread above. They're lovely. :-)
