My mother had a tiny plant given to her. She didn't like it. It just seemed to sit there, doing nothing, so she gave it to me (I'm supposedly the green-fingered one, so I was happy to take it on...!)

The small black square pot it was in, was beginning to distort so I knew the roots were outgrowing the pot.

I took it home and carefully split the pot away, and sure enough the roots were fighting to get loose.

Re-potted it into a 9" plastic pot, good drainage, sunny S/W window and it took off.

It's now a healthy 2' high even though (to my utter dismay, having put it outside for the "summer" ha, ha, bloody ha!) the leaves were battered by a hail storm and are now all split along the veins. They're not completely tattered, but every leaf has some damage....

The added light and fresh air must have done it some good though, because the roots are now poking out of the bottom; having brought it back indoors, I have had to raise the pot from its drainage saucer by cutting 2 wine corks in half and standing the pot on the 4 halves... The water drained from the pot when I did this, came to about a quarter inch...

I hear they love being pot-bound and that plastic pots are better, because they crack clay/terracotta pots, mercilessly if pot-bound...

I'm still awaiting a first flower, by the way, but I hear it can take a few years. That's ok... I'm patient, as all gardeners must be!

Anyone else had experience with Bird of Paradise plants (or BoPs as they seem to be affectionately known)?