My BOP bloomed a couple days ago..........and it has, I think, 6 more bloom spikes. Oh, I can't wait. Not bad for zone 4b, eh???

Now I'm jealous! I have two that have hung on all summer, but no blooms. Just beautiful!

It's in a 20 inch pot............and it is HEAVY..........I had all I wanted to even drag the stupid thing when I put it in the g'house. Oh, it's a plastic pot too, no clay ones for me.

Congratulations! I'm in zone 10, and I've waited 3 years to get 3 bloom spikes on the one I bought in bloom. Guess mine isn't in it's happy place.

Mine was so pot-bound in the 16 inch pot it wouldn't even sit straight, the bottom of the pot was all convex. So, I repotted the whole mass into the 20 inch and it already has that starting to be convex. And I just repotted it in April. Cripes....................

Hey, don't feel badly. I have trouble blooming mine in Hawaii and it's the altitude (read cool temps) that does them in, I think.

Mine don't bloom well here in the Yucatan either, I think they are getting too much shade from the fish tail palm that has grown over them.

Really good job to get blooms up there!

lovely Anna.. good growing..
Look at all the growers in such better places.. that would be happy with your success..
I was amazed with a neighbor here.. his was growing like a tree.. up about 15 ' tall... and the suprising thing was the trunk had the flowers sticking off the sides of it..

Gordon, were the flowers white? If so, that would be Strelitzia nicolai (giant bird of paradise), unless someone has hybridized them somehow.

I have the white one too, but I don't think I will ever get a bloom from it. Even having a g'house. Mine is probably about 10 feet tall.

Gordon, I bought this as a $5.00 "last chance" plant at an "end of season" sale. I figured for $5 bucks, it could either live or die. It has done well. I've had it at least 5 years. It was probably a couple feet tall and looked like it had been through a war.

Oh it might have been white... I was so taken with the size and way it flowered off the trunk than the way I've seen them... and they were so high up... and from years ago I'm not sure of the color.. but if that tall one blooms white... that's what it was .. no doubt... was how I got to know him..I saw someone had built a big two story greenhouse maybe about 35' tall... against this warehouse building.. and it had plants inside.. I said there's a character I need to visit...so I went over and introduced myself and my obsessions. his BOP was inside.. and went almost to the top of it.. I was awe struck...
yes.. it's easy to lay out a bit of cash... but after five years of moving it about... water .. and food... with out fail... to keep it strong and happy to flower.. you've a big investment... and now dividends...
obviously you're part of the one percent... Anna

Yeah, dividends as in "divide the dumb thing into the gazillion plants that are probably stuffed in there"...........LOLOL I couldn't believe how it looked when I dumped it out of that 16 inch pot.......oh, wait.............I took that as a photo-op......I have pix...........wait here............

I might not be able to get them all on this post; sometimes ATP seems to think I need to post them individually.

That was the "before repotting". Here is the rootball.

The new pot and all trimmed up.

Very Good! It is a happy plant..

Anna: Way to grow! I've known people here in Florida who have them in the ground and they refuse to bloom! Yours must be a very happy bird indeed ... lovely!

Well, to say it is potbound is a gross understatement. LOL I'm sure it's probably as bad now as it was when I repotted, since it is doing so well.

I think they tend to grow tightly like that when in ground too.

yes..it makes me laugh... it's being so well cared for.. and growing so well.. if a bit tight... you're a victem of your own success.. and will need bigger accomodations for it soon... so...where's all the soil that used to be there... was it compacted.. or just pushed out... it too will try and leave the pot

You can see there wasn't much soil left.........I think it ate it.

I shudder when I think of dividing it............I will have to use an ax.