Very nice, Mike. I saw these blooming outdoors in Florida and always admired them. I had one years ago, but never had a sunny enough place for it to bloom.

Christopher

Wow, Nice, Thanks for Sharing....

Wish Mine Would Hurry up and do the same....

Mike, Congrats!!!!!

What a beautiful flower. I am sooo jealous, lol.

I have S. reginae and S. Nicolai, both are 15-years+, but neither ever bloomed.

What type of fertilizer are you adding? Perhaps I'm using the wrong kind??
My Birds get slow-release Strelitzia (Bird of Paradise) Fertilizer, purchased on Ebay.
Before finding this fertilizer, I'd alternate with All-Purpose and Flowering, but neither flowered then either.

Anyway, your bird-flower is amazing..Isn't that something?? Toni

Toni,

Lots of strong sunlight, as Mike has for his, and a relatively tight pot are the keys to getting Birds to flower. Any balanced or complete fertilizer is adequate and much less important than light. Needless to say, proper watering is also critical.

~Will

Great blooms, Mike!
Your co-workers must love you for lending them this plant!

Josh

Great blooms, Mike!
Your co-workers must love you for lending them this plant!

Josh

Hi Will.

If roots were any tighter they'd strangle either other, lol.

It's written, Birds need tight roots, full sun, and at the minimum, seven leaves before blooming.

My Birds have all the above.

Both Birds, 'really' need larger pots. It's been years since they've been repotted. I add fresh soil on top, but when outdoors, wind knocks both down, and out pops the soil.

The only reason I haven't repotted in bigger containers is I hoped they'd flower. Wishful thinking. :)

Thanks Will.

Toni

Mike, excellent job, i thought of seeing a bird of paradise blooming is a science fiction ;-)
it is not and you did it i hope mine will do it in the near future

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/houseplt/msg0510344623116.html?10

Simply Beautiful.....

What a tropical paradise!!!!

Great job, Mike!!!

Laura

Looks great - in the UK they only flower in the winter/spring.

Nice job!

HEy Mike,
I knew you could do it!! Mine usually doesn't bloom until summer goes into fall.

Last year, mine was trying to bloom indoors under my 600 watt HPS light but because I was more concerned with my citrus, mango trees, and other tropical fruits, it didn't get enough light for the buds to mature. They actually turned brown and dropped off:(

I also agree that BOP needs to be rootbound but just like what Toni was saying, I got tired quickly of constantly having to pick it up off of my concrete side walk every time the wind blew it over.

So a few weeks ago, I repotted it into a slightly larger pot. I am hoping that she will bloom this summer, instead of trying to bloom indoors.
Has your Bird ever produced offsets? I bought mine 3 or 4 years ago, and like I said I never repotted it. I am thinking that it was so rootbound it might not have been able to, so now I have high hopes for it.

I just wanted to come here and off you some warm hearted congrats to you!

Take care, and I will also email you. I had a few questions I wanted to ask.

BTW...how are the remaining plumeria doing? Have any bloomed? I really don't want to see you give up on these tropical gems Mike, because once you do get blooms, I guarentee you will be happy you didn't give up on them!! Right now I have my Dwarf Singapore Pink in full bloom(2 inflos blooming like crazy and 2 more that are maturing with buds that should be opening in a couple more weeks.), my Thai Super Round has 2 inflos, my Taj Mahol had 1 inflo but sadly it was infested with some kind of bug and I lost almost every single bud....a few would mature but only half open and drop. After treating it with FE and insecticidal soap, I discovered another inflo!Now that I have rid the infestation, I hopefully will have blooms! MY Sariah Curly Pink has an inflo with buds maturing on it also!

I FINALLY have some trees that are mature enough to bloom on a regular basis Mike! You have no idea how excited this makes me!

Andrew

Chris, thanks buddy! I have always loved these plants ever since I saw them in bloom outside my hotel rooms in the tropics!

Ninecrow from England? How are you? Thanks so much for stopping by.:-)

Andrew! Good to see you! I hope your back has been doing better for you. I also hope you have Mango by now:-)
As for the plant, it's not root bound at all and in fact there is lots of room for more growth in the pot. I am hoping it puts out more pups because I would like to share this plant!
I know you have some too. I am so excited for you. I can only imagine how happy you are about your plants! You have waited a long time for them to grow!
Yes, e-mail me please. I will look forward to that.
Thanks for your kind heartedness!

Toni: Thank you. The only fertilizer I have used on it was Foliage Pro. Even then, I think I have only fed it once since last winter. I tend to ignore this plant a lot. At times I have even forgotten to water it to the point of wilt. Bad me. I just let it do its thing, and poof.

Stewart: Thank you. I was kind of surprised that it flowered twice like this. I never expected it to flower again until next winter. I am very pleased.

Hello Laura! I can picture many of these all around your pool! I think they would flourish with you.
Thnaks for your kind comments! I wish many that lived here would appreciate plants like this as I do. Well, one women at work did. She offered me 200 dollars for it.lol

Khourshed: I am sure yours will some day. Just ignore it as I did and water only when needed. This plant only gets about 3 hours of sun a day, but lots of window light.
Thank you.

Will, I think you are right! It does gets lots of light, but not direct sun. If it is outside, it sits under a tree. If it's inside, it sits in fron of thet tall window that only get a few hours of western exposure sun.
Thank you.

Josh! Thanks man! This excited me as much as when your Orchid first bloomed. It took me by surprise.
You are right about the co-workers..lol

Mike

Mike, they are spectacular! Such a unique bloom ; you've done a terrific job, Mike.

Rhizo, you are too kind! You know how much I value your comments! Thank you for what you show me too.

Mike