Giant BOP's are sold as a tropical foliage plant in places like Home Depot and the like. They don't tell you that they have to get VERY large to flower nor do they tell you that the large white and steel blue flowers are very nasty/messy things oozing a slime and bloom right against the trunk. I've never saw one flowering that had a trunk less than three feet tall and it takes many years to get to that size. If you just want a large foliage plant indoors, then they'll do okay with enough light.

People are entitled to believe what they want to believe about what their climate zone is. I wouldn't make a claim that parts of downtown Sacramento could ever be considered almost a zone 10a, just as I think it is a stretch to consider my part of Berkeley a reliable zone 10a, although it may be 9 out of 10 winters. We are talking about Strelitzia nicholai here, the Ravenella simply doesn't tolerate northern California winters, the soils stay too wet and cold and they rot away. While there may be the occasional Strelitzia nicholai in downtown Sacramento up against buildings which benefit from reradiated heat and don't tend to look frozen back after each winter, the foliage will get zapped in a major way when temps drop below freezing here. In a hot summer area like Sacto, they will regrow new foliage more quickly, but the mature size will be restricted by being frozen back so often. This plant would really only be suitable as a long term specimen, in my opinion, where it is up against a wall or protected by an overhang or evergreen trees. Out in the open in a Sacramento garden, it will tend to get frozen browned foliage almost every winter, and 25F temps will kill it back to the ground. They can bloom at smaller sizes, I've seen 15 gallon sized plants in southern California that may only have had 3 feet of trunk blooming, as I've also had some that were relatively young and foliage topped out at 10 feet bloom here in Oakland. I've also got one in my front yard that has 10 feet of trunk that has never bloomed yet. Full sun, hotter weather year round and regular feeding will encourage them to bloom at smaller sizes, and also being planted in the ground. Not to discourage someone from planting one in a USDA zone 9b climate here in northern California, but be prepared to cover them if you don't like looking at burnt foliage for 6 months out of the year after a freeze. They do burn foliage right at 32F here in Berkeley, if it is more than just an hour or two.

i really dont know,roses or bulbs or perennials.....i am open to any thing except natives,i ahve some coreopsis too.i dont need stella doro daylily.i am looking for flowering plants mostly.please let me know what you have if its not too much to ask. rema

Hey there! I have a bunch of irises that I'd like to be rid of. I'd say there's about a dozen of them, but if that's not an equitable trade I can certainly get more (my mom and mother-in-law also have great herds of irises roaming their yards.) I also have a ton of seeds, mixed dwarf columbine, violets, a white lantana that doesn't really fit where I put it, many little pothos cuttings, some bromeliads and a giant aloe. email mommyfox@gmail.com if any of that strikes your interest!