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.

OK. Here is the pic I hope. Please if at all possible tell me if this is a possibility or if somehow Im nurturing weeds. They are quite small so hard to see. [IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/TazDevyl/miracleseedlingsSmall.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/TazDevyl/miracleseedlings2Small.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y148/TazDevyl/miracleseedlings1Small.jpg[/IMG] I have a bad feeling as I JUST found out, my mother got the dirt from the yard! GRRR

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)?

I bought a 3-4 foot bird of paradise from the nursery 10 days ago. I placed it in front of a floor to ceiling south facing window so it gets light from AM- late afternoon. I watered it 1 week after bringing to home, as the top soil seemed moist. The last 2 days I have noticed a leaf wrinkling on the edges and become crispy textured where they wrinkle. It also has started on another leaf today. The bottom small leaves are slightly yellow but otherwise the plant looks healthy. I am in love with my new plant and want to be sure that I give it everything it needs to thrive. Can someone please help me?