Strelitzia Nicolai ~ Giant Bird of Paradise

[Cjcorner]

When we moved in and I found out what this "palm" was...I was very happy. These flowers are one of my favorite things about the back yard. I love the purple tongue...





Although we often call these geckos...they are really an Anole. They seem to come in several colors and this guy was not happy I was following him around taking his picture. He seems to like the backyard swing. He sits up top and chases all the other Anoles off his perch.

[pavel]

So just how big is your BoP? My neighbors had one when I lived in Hawaii. Loved the orange and indigo blooms

[Cjcorner]

We have one that is roughly 7-8 ft tall. It has a couple smaller plants growing beneath it I want to let grow so there are two or three of them blooming at a time. The orange bird of paradise here are more of a bush..and if they didn't get so big I'd have one of those too.

[orchidsal]

How extraordinary Connie. I never knew that these colors existed (especially the purple) in bird of paradise. I like this ................AL

[blrnut]

Connie, you just made me research the Strelitzia family! I have a small plant of what is supposed to be the Strelitzia alba (Strelitzia augusta) which is also a white form of the Bird of Paradise.

Here is what I found:
Strelitzia augusta and nicolai are 2 species of the same family and both are the white members of the family. the difference being the flower for the S. augusta is also white with a light blue "tongue" and it sits in a purplish bract while the S. nicolai has a greenish bract.

Based on the above description, I would say your tree seems to be S. augusta. I hope mine too grows to bloom as nice as yours. Mine is still fairly very young (probably 3 feet tall, I got it 1 year back). Still a long way to go, I guess

[zainal abidin]

Very nice here in Malaysia we got blue, orange and white.

[catttan]

Very nice here in Malaysia we got blue, orange and white.

Love the Strelitzia but unfortunately only blooms in our highlands. I have mine for more than 10 years but has never flowered in the lowlands.

[blrnut]

Zain, can you post the picture of the blue variant? eager to see how it looks!

Very nice here in Malaysia we got blue, orange and white.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Love the color in this Bird of Paradise, Connie! I have never seen one this color before. So pretty!

cheers,
BD

[Robert]

we have quite a number imported and local species, but have never seen this. Thanks for posting.