Hello everyone, So sorry I have been lazy with responding to this thread. I hope you all haven't lost interest yet. I had my 2nd back surgery on the 15th and I am still recovering. I was told that I couldn't ride in a car for 1 week and not drive for 2. Well last night it was just getting to me too muc hand I had to get out of the house!! I have to admit, I had good intentions to begin with....a short ride to Walmart where I was just going to stay in the car but then we ended up going to a friends house which really was only about 10 minutes further away from Walmart. We went in and hung out for about 45 minutes. I had a heck of a time trying to fall asleep last night. For some reason not only was I really sore(more so than I had been) but the skin around the incisions felt like it was going to tear open! So, around 7:30am I went intothe bathroom and took a peak in the mirror. I couldn't believe it! It looks like I have a goose egg the size of an orange! It's right on the upper incision. So now I know I over did it and I will have to really lie low until this swelling goes down. All of you guys are awesome people and truly great friends of mine. I just felt bad because I asked for help and your opinions and I didn't want any of you to think I didn't give a crap to check back and see what you all had posted. Hello Toni, Wow I have missed you!! I will get a picture this time around. I promise! Right now the spikes are still small...under 6 inches. They are growing pretty fast now though and I also noticed that the tips of the actual buds are a bright orange which is a good sign that all is well! I mention this because last year my BOP produced 2 spikes but then right before the buds opened, something happened and the buds aborted:( I also wanted to tell you that the original BOP that I got my rhizome from blooms at least 5 or 6 times a year. Now, they also put them outdoors in the spring and leave them there pretty much until fall. Sometimes I have seen them back in the shop by the cash registers. Now how's that for advertising!! Now I know that my BOP would flower more BUT each rhozime will only produce 2 flower spikes(at the size mine is anyhow), so until mine gets larger or produces more offsets, I sadly wont see anymore flower spikes. I know I know, I should just be greatfull and I am trust me! It took me MANY years to get to this point! HEllo Mr. Mike! Please never feel bad for not getting right back to me! You and I are in similiar boats right now and trust me, I know how it feels! Look how long it took me to repond to my own posting LOL!! I would be willing to bet money on this...if you were to come across a blooming BOP and you were able to get it, you would be able to get it to rebloom with no problems!! That's how it was for me anyhow! Now I did mention to Toni that I lost the flowers last year but that was the one and only time that ever happened. When I bought mine I want to say it was somewhere around the summer months of June, July or August. It was at it's full glory right then. Those flowers were spectacular and I couldn't believe how long they lasted! I want to say it was either close to a month or just over a month. Anyhow, after it finnished blooming, I put it oudoors in full sun. I fertilized it with a fert that I had that was comparable to a fert that you would use for banana trees..Toni also had mentioned this to me before..THANKS TONI! Anyhow, that fert was a slow release and then I also gave it the FP. I brought it in for the fall and within a month or 2 guess what! MORE BLOOMS!! I really want to see you succeed with a BOP Mike(all of you, Toni and Laura!). They are so rewarding to me. The tropical foliage is great to have during the cold bleak winter months. If you could find one, BUY IT! I know your going to say that it is a space issue...totally understandable so you know what you do then? Throw out the dud(LMAO!)!! Yeah I know it isn't always easy to do. I had my 1st BOP for well over 10 years and honestly, I got to the point where I started getting angry. I knew I was doing everything right and to see it not blooming, it just made me dissapointed and angry. If you really want one Mike, I can help you locate one. Take care and please take care of that foot! Hi Laura, Like I mentioned above, I will get a picture of it now and then I will get pics of it blooming. Have you ever seen any BOP at your garden centers? I know it would be too cold for them there to live year round. I don't even think they would survive if you protected them with those heat cables. Again, just like I told Mike the secret(to me anyhow) is finding one that is blooming. I will NEVER waste my money(and sanity..LMAO!) on buying a BOP from a grocery store, or anywhere unless it was blooming. I went to Potratz in Erie PA, which is this AWESOME humungous garden center, nursery. They carry all kinds of cool tropicals. In fact, they will even special order just about anything I want for me. One time I was out there and they had an awesome BOP. IT probobly had 6 or 7 rhizomes in one pot. The BOP stood at around 5ft tall. I knew that I didn't have to check out the price tag, I knew they were going to charge an arm and a leg....the price? $300!!!!!!! I couldn't freakin believe it! I thought "Are you kidding me?!" Thankfully I found mine about a year or so later. Thanks again guys for helping me out. Take care and as soon as this swelling goes down, I promise to get a pic. Andrew

Do you still have this plant ? if so let me know I'm sure I have something to your liking in a phal or paph. Darwin

Strelitzia nicholai is commonly used as a large indoor foliage plant in California, where it can do quite well long term if it is treated well. If you have the room for it, I would suggest keeping it as an indoor plant rather than trying to "dwarf" it by letting the first frosts kill the tops from leaving it outdoors in the fall. They are relatively slow to regrow from the roots if they are frozen back to the ground, and as Cagary says, they don't divide all that easily as the roots are massive. I'd avoid fertilizing them much to try and slow their growth down, and give them enough light indoors so that the foliage doesn't become too floppy. The actual trunks take some time to form, and new leaves aren't really going to increase in height significantly if kept as an indoor plant. Unless you have early spring warmth, this plant is unlikely to recover well from being completely frozen back, although they regularly do so here in northern California conditions, but then again we are USDA zone 9b climate.

Hi, I have had to take off some offshoots of the humongous Bird of Paradise (tree) because it threatened to push over our fence. I didn't realise that it would grow quite so large or wide. It is finally flowering after 7 years. I didn't think that it was supposed to do that in June, either. Anyway, I was wondering if there was anyway to save the offshoots as it is now pretty cold and absolutely the wrong time of year to do this. Any ideas?