Does anyone have any personal experience with this plant? Zone hardiness? Growth characteristics and or rate? I have one I have kept in the greenhouse for two years and it seems to be very slow growing but healthy. I am not sure what to do with it.
Michael

Michael, www.louistheplantgeek.com has a post for strelitzia raginae. It has a few remarks on juncea, and states it is an orange form of raginae with some diff in leaf shape. Hope this helps and you get your bird of paradise to flower.
Steve

Michael, www.pza.sanbi.org has pictures, care, and info on strelitzia juncea. The site is about plants that grow in South Africa.
Steve

I almost bought it once but decided against it. It grows like other Strelitzia except its leafless. And much more expensive. I have S. reginea planted out in my yard, it grows well, but doesn;t flower because its just too wet here. It they get too much water, they don't seem to feel the need to bloom. They don;t seem to mind the wet heat, although in their native South Africa they get a little more dry heat. When I lived in California, they grew everywhere. Almost every yard always had one, and in full bloom seemingly 24/7. Here, NO ONE plants them even though they are cheap and readily available.

I almost bought the juncea from Gardino's years ago but decided no because it was a splurge and I knew even in the greenhouse where I can control water better it would get too much water

Thanks everybody. I had already found the pza site. It helped some but I was hoping someone had personal experience too. It has just been sitting in a pot in the greenhouse for two years pretty much doing nothing. Kind of neat looking, just wish it would grow. It was a free plant with another order I placed somewhere.
Michael

Lucky dog!!!!!!!!!! I think they can take a while. Some plants are just slow.
I don't know why this is different, but the S. reginae (ordinary Orange Bird) will not flower for me with abundant water, but the S. nicolai (did I spell that right?) the Giant or white bird, does not seem to care about the water.

I've never grown Leafless Crane Flower (Strelitzia juncea) so I can't offer advice ... I sure like the leafless look!

I finally remembered to take a picture today. It has definitely gotten a lot bigger since I have had the plant. I guess I was expecting it to spread or put out runners or something else. It is unusual though and I like it.

I like that one also, it is sculptural with those stark, straight lines with the flags on top.

Good looking plant!

And not a real estate hog!