Does anyone know how difficult it is to dig up a Bird of Paradise? We moved this week and there's a large Bird of Paradise in the atrium growing up and touching the screen roof; it has a big bend in the trunk for some reason, like it was trying to grow sideways and it really needs to come out before it breaks through the screen roof. I was hoping to be able to dig it out rather than sacrifice it by killing it. It's not a clump but rather a one trunk plant that the former homeowners planted right up next to the little pond. Besides growing up and possibly breaking through the screen roof, I'm afraid it will break through the side of the pond form ... so it MUST come out. I'm not certain but I think it's the Giant BOP (S. nicolai) because there's a huge clump of the S. reginae outside the kitchen window and this one looks different. There's also a huge clump of Codiaeum (Croton) out there and Pothos/Devil's Ivy running around everywhere. The Pothos has been climbing the wood siding and trailing all over the stone paver floor. We're going to redo the pond edge because currently there are flat pavers laying haphazardly around the edge which aesthetically don't look all that nice to me. I want to replace them with some sort of rocks. My husband says he's going to build me a waterfall that will flow into the little pond so we'll probably re-do things out there when that happens but I want to get the plants out of there so I'll have a blank slate to begin with. I'm hoping to get the remainder of my unpacking done and things arranged in the next day or two so that I can start working outside in the yard.

OMG!! I just found the care card and mine is S. nicolai. It indicates 30 ' tall and 20 ' wide. WTH was I thinking?

I was thinking maybe 6 feet or so. Guess I did NOT look at the care card. OHhhhhh myyyyyy

LOL, yes indeed the Giant White Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia nicolai) get really huge!

Wow, glad you got moved finally, Lin. We've missed you over on the birdy forum.

Um, the weather's great for gardening now, and will be getting much hotter later in the week. I'm advising you do a little gardening tomorrow to take advantage of the cool, and low humidity. Leave your unpacking for the hot days? I'm thinking this might be our last night to sleep with the windows open.

I had one clump of my big Birds hacked out by one of my garden helpers 2 years ago. He used a Sawz-all and cut and dug down really deep. Still it's put up a couple of new leaves both last year and this, so he didn't get all the roots. But you can at least just cut off the large trunk to prevent damage to your screen roof and worry about digging out the roots a little at a time (or when the new pond project goes ahead). The trunks are watery, not strong wood and the Sawz-all cut through it with no problems. A regular hand saw will work fine too. Even if you don't dig out all the roots, small pups will come up and might look nice if you just keep cutting them before they get too huge.

That's my present strategy with the 3 huge clumps I have left - I just cut the biggest trunks out every spring so I have nice foliage but nothing humungous.

So if I cut thru the trunk, it will regrow kinda like a banana?

I plan to continue leaving mine in a pot which should force it to stay a bit on the smaller size. I simply sink the pot. That is what I did last year.

No way would I plant it in the ground.

Yes, they act quite a bit like bananas, putting up pups around the bigger trunks.

Elaine, thanks so much for that information regarding the BOP! Yes, the weather has been really wonderful the past few days and I might take a break from the unpacking etc. indoors and work outside all day tomorrow!

We lived in Daytona Beach for 43 years and I can't believe all the stuff we have! We've given away and donated a lot of things over the past five years but I guess we've really accumulated a lot more than we realized in our 47 years of marriage. We made the move ourselves, hauling boxes and boxes and boxes in my car, my husbands pickup truck and his motorcycle trailer (I think he's made 4 trips back and forth so far) and last Tuesday he rented a 26' U-haul truck to bring down the heavy furniture and whatever boxes he could cram in that truck. We still have a few small things left in Daytona and have yet to move all of my plants down, which will probably happen sometime next week. I'm thinking we can move them all in one trip but he thinks it might take two, so we'll see. We've been in the new house 7 days now and are slowly getting things organized and put away. It's great living down the street from my sister and her husband and we can walk to each others houses whenever we want!

It took a 27 foot truck and 2 cars to move my garden to my new home last year. I've always grown in containers and it is so wonderful to be putting things in the ground now!

Lin, how wonderful you are finally in your new home, I know you have been planning this for a while.

Anne, this BOP is planted in the ground here and it gets to be about 12'. Some winters in freezes to the ground others it is fine. This pic is from a few years ago, I'll try and remember to get another pic today.

Thanks Alice .. I'm still debating whether or not to put it in the ground or try to grow it in a pot.

Anne, Wow ... it sounds like you had to move a ton of plants! I hope it wasn't a long distance move; I remember someone once talking about moving to another state and having to transport a lot of container plants! We are going to get mine this coming Wednesday or Thursday for the 110 mile trip ... hopefully it will only take one trailer load.

Alice, oh my ... that is one big, beautiful bird! My hubby chopped mine back today while I was out shopping with my sister and my niece. Mine looks rather pitiful now and I still want to try to dig it up.

Thankfully it was only a mile and a half trip. Loading wasn't so bad since a lot of it was still in the greenhouse - I had to wait until May to move it so I was absolutely sure there would be no more freezes .. unloading was a nightmare .. it started raining like crazy .. there were 5 of us unloading and I was trying to direct the whole thing and tell everyone where to put what along with a zillion pots and other garden accoutrements. My new greenhouse hadn't been built yet so my 'fragiles' had to tough it out in the real world for awhile. It took over 5 hours from start to finish and there were plants spread out EVERYWHERE as my new back yard was 3 time larger than the old. The next day by myself I started the mind blowing 'sort it all out' routine that lasted over a week - I was also dealing with unpacking, settling into a new house and lots of kitty reassurance sessions for Barney & Feif. I can't tell you how many times I was tempted to just chuck it all. I lost about 20% of my plants due to I didn't know where the heck they were, couldn't give them the attention they needed and/or were in the wrong kind of light.

Here are a few "garden exploded" pictures.