About how long does the bloom last?

Over a month if I don't cut it and give it away.

That's an amazingly long time for a bloom. I won't be cutting mine, I don't think. At least, not the first time it blooms. However, it would be nice to be able to enter it in the Flower Show at the end of March if the blooms hang on!

And I noticed my clivia is blooming again too. Has had 2 bloom clusters since I put it in the g'house last fall. That is so hideously pot-bound, like the BOP, that I will no doubt have roots coming in my bedroom and strangling me for want of larger pots. LOL

Maybe being pot-bound is what makes them bloom. I'm starting to take things out of the hoop house (80° today), but we're supposed to have one more cold front coming soon. I think I'll just leave BOP where it is a little longer. Never grew Clivias. They are gorgeous, tho.

Just back from the g'house.......and the clivia has 2 bloom spikes. Hmmmm...........fancy that.

Yes... the saber saw Sandi recomended is my divider of choice also... I did a 12' mound with it... seperating a number of trees and plants... they all did real well... like nothing had happened..
surgical seperation
here's a couple lovely pictures from today..

Jeez, Gordon, is that blooming on your rooftop arboretum??

Beautiful BOP, Gordon! My blooms finally opened, but I don't think they're as spectacular as yours.

oh.. I thought of you Anna when I saw mine at the Bronx Botanical Garden orchard show.. in their concervatory.. I have it maintaned with a staff of 200 gardeners there.. I'd just never seen one so vivid in color.. guess it was the bright sun shining in all the windows warming the inside on a cool daymade it extra magical..

GordonHawk said: it maintaned with a staff of 200 gardeners there

that is some staff.... we are keeping the grounds of the Naples Botanical Garden with about 6 gardeners, and a lot of willing volunteers!!

There is a gardener of one my estate!! She is not well paid at all.


Nancy

I thought I read somewhere that BOP like to be rootbound, maybe??? One of mine has been blooming in the GH this year, only one spike. It has had numerous blooms in the past. After I repotted in 2010, they did not bloom in 2011. I have seen them growing in the highway (interstate) medians in San Diego, blooming like crazy. I don't think these were places that had irrigation systems either. I have a white BOP in a pot, given to me when it was very small. Had no idea how big they grew, then. Now it bends the leaves to get it in my 8 ft high gh. It has bloomed several years. I've had it maybe 8-10 years. Again, in San Diego, the first one I ever saw growing in the ground, was tall as or taller than the restaurant it was beside, and blooming. I couldn't believe how big it was, and wondered what I was gonna do with mine. I enjoy both, hope they bloom better this year.

Hi, Gordon. Are you coming down south this spring? The plant swap is April 28. Different location this time.

OH Ginger.. I''d love to... that JT he mentioned the date .. but I don't recall him saying it was going to be smewhere different.. I've got to see what I can arrange... there's my gaarden getting out.. and the watering system set up.. unlike past years where I'd depend on human watering.. I used to have the drip system up.. for the last decaade.. but I seldom have it working.. as everything is somewhere else.. or the line had been broken in some rearranging.. but this year spring is so early.. and no winter at all here... .. I could put them out now.. but if we can as we did this year.. get snow for halloween.. we could get it for may day also.
but I hope to be outside by the 15th.. and chance it.. then there's mothers garden to get in.. on one side of the gathering or the other ..
SO.. where is it to be.. down on the coast?? that's always fun... I planted three dozen Temptations ..[passi's] the other day.. don't know if they will be up by then.. although they should be.. after their bleach/peroxide/water soak...

My BOP is horribly root=bound. And I repotted it last year in Feb. and it is blooming now. I counted 6 open blooms the other day when I was up in the g'house, and I think 4 more to come. One of the open ones has 2 flowers on one spike. That is so pretty.

I just brought home a white BOP. I don't think I would have bought a white one but it was on the bargain table for $5.00 and it is a pretty large plant. I will get a picture of it.

Well, it will not bloom for you, you can bet on that one. My white BOP is almost 12 feet tall, and even with it being in the greenhouse, I don't expect it to ever bloom while I walk the earth.

I really just bought it to put out in the yard this summer figured it would grow nice and big and give me that tropical look I like. Couldn't pass it up for $5. Hadn't really thought of what I might do with it at the end of the season, most of my Tropicals do come inside so I can at least try to over winter them. Most of them don't grow that big.

I had another BOP bloom in a large urn today. It's really crowded and pot-bound. The sun hit it just the right way to make it look psychedelic.


Had DH hold umbrella to block the sun. I'll have to wait for it to fully open to get a good shot.

I AM SO JEALOUS..................I have or should I say had a friend in WA state who sent me a white giant BOP with a note reminding me I may not live long enough to see it bloom. We love each other and do these kind of things just to tease. That plant had one leaf on it when I got it and within months it had five more and was at least four feet tall. I then told her we were no longer friends.

I put it outside on my deck and never thought about how hot the sun was that day. It burned all the leaves and I had nothing left but ugly stems. I cut the leaves off and stuck it behind the greenhouse and left it to die. But, die it did not. I now have another big leaf on that thing and I guess I will keep it and see what happens over the winter. I call it my Monster Plant. I do love BOP and envy you all so much, but being 83 almost 84 in a few weeks, I do not think I will ever have one that blooms. <sigh>
That will not keep my from trying. What is the difference between those giant (large leaf) and the smaller leaf plants. What are their names? I have a few small ones a friend sent to me from SC but they do not seem happy . Guess I need to research them but I do not know what to look for since I do not have names for them. You are all so lucky to have plants like that.