Bird of paradise flower

What's your question for Saab?

Yeah, I've got a pair of Bird of Paradise plants that are pushing over a limestone wall, so unfortunately I have to get rid of them.

Yep.

They're very difficult to kill, though, are they not?

Oh, yeah, they're quite tricky, Russell.

Usually people come in with an excavator to get Bird of Paradise out of the ground, but you don't have that option because you've got a limestone wall.

So this is what you have to do.

You have to cut the bird of paradise down and leave about 10 to 20 centimetres.

last week we had a couple of technical issues, didn't we? Oh, yes.

And so after we got off air, a gentleman sent in a message on email and it was regards his Strelitzia.

Right.

Very interesting.

But his name is, I should find it, you mightn't have given me his name.

Anyway, we'll find it.

What did he say? What did he say? Okay, in regards to the Strelitzia, I have 10 in my garden and a couple of acres here at Madawi and they're absolutely enormous and have been there 26 years.

Wow.

Yeah.

Let's listen to Strelitzia, which Jay wrote for lovely old Shelley.

Cheers for taking the time, boys.

Cheers, Jay.

mentioned.

Giant Bird of Paradise, Strelitzia nicolae.

I mean, that's not even a palm.

That's a palmate plant.

a corker, a crackerjack, a peach.

It is the bird of paradise, Strelitzia reginae.

This wonderfully meaty aroid is a brilliant statement plant that combines beautiful foliage with gorgeous orange and purple blooms that certainly do resemble the bird after which they are named.

Before we go any further, though, I have to say the following.

But one of the things I love about this plant is the fact that once it has been pollinated and set seed, the seeds are just as dramatic as the flowers.

deep blackish purple with this amazing bright orange top knot which is really really stunning but that orange hairy bit does actually serve a purpose it's classed as an aerial and it's edible to birds and they will come in and see that and eat it and then pass on the seeds through their bodies and out the other end in the form of their poo If you do have some of these seeds to grow, they do need to be soaked in hot water to make sure that that seed coat will break open and the plant can germinate.

And Strelitzia reginae is pollinated, we think, and I always caveat this slightly because pollination research is... a difficult thing to do and we're never quite sure but yes it seems to be pollinated by sunbirds in South Africa they're wanting to get hold of that nectar and in the process they get down into the sexual parts of the plant and the pollen ends up on the bird's feet and then it moves on to the next plant and so on and so forth the pollen gets passed around now the likelihood is that your plant if you're outside of South Africa is unlikely to be pollinated and set seed But I will link to a post from the wonderful Matt Candeas, friend of the show, and on his In Defence of Plants website, he talks about observations of this plant growing in California, where some birds there that are native to California seem to be working out how to drink the nectar of this plant and potentially pollinate it.

So if you want to have one of these in your home, what do you need to do? Well, I've talked already about light, so let's make that clear.

How do you care for it in your home? If you do see this plant, I think I like that.

If you want this to grow well in your house, I'm going to say the same thing I did about the Strelitzia.

You're going to need really good light.

This is a good candidate for going under a grow light because it's going to need full sun.