How to care for bird of paradise plants: watering, repotting and where to position them

You’ll have most likely seen the striking orange and blue flowers in a tropical bouquet, and if you have a thirst for Jurassic foliage, you may already have one in your home.
Natalia Peredniankina / Alamy Stock Photo
George Hudson26 July 2021

Growing fans of banana-like leaves, the bird of paradise is a mammoth and majestic houseplant.

Endemic to the Cape Provinces of South Africa, it can now be found growing across the world, weirdly even becoming the national flower of Los Angeles, where it enjoys the hot climate.

There are two species of bird of paradise that can normally be found in our house plant shops and garden centres, the orange flowering Strelitzia reginae, and the white flowering Strelitzia nicolai.

The orange flowering bird of paradise tends to be less common and a little pricey, they have a top height of around two metres. Happy and established plants will flower most years, normally in late winter or early spring. They have narrow spear shaped blue-green leaves.

On the other hand, the white flowering bird of paradise are more readily available (especially in large flat-pack furniture stores) but are very unlikely to flower in our climate. It’s also known as the giant bird of paradise and can grow to be six metres tall in the right conditions. They have rounder, green and shiny leaves.

Both are beautiful foliage plants, but if its orange flowers you are after, make sure its ‘Strelitzia reginae’. If it doesn’t say reginae on the pot, it might not be reginae in the pot! I have even seen labels with the orange flowers, in the white flowering species. Buy with care.

How to care for bird of paradise plants

The tropical looking leaves of the bird of paradise might make you want to group it in a shady corner where your other jungle plants thrive. This would be a mistake. Strelitzia are sun lovers and so they will grow best by a south facing window. In summer, they are tough enough to be kept outside, ease them out as they are just as prone as we are to getting sunburn after spending all winter inside, just make sure it comes in before it starts to get cold again at night.

Through the growing season (mid-spring, summer and early autumn) they need watering regularly, keeping the roots moist but not wet. Allow the top layer of compost, but no more than this, to dry out before watering again. Through winter, when the plant is dormant, you can allow it to dry out a little more between watering, too much water this time of year may cause the roots to rot.

Strelitizia plants also favour humid conditions. If you want to prevent crispy, brown leaf edges, keep them in a naturally humid room like a sunny kitchen or bathroom, or keep on a tray of wet pebbles to increase humidity around the leaves.

How to propagate bird of paradise plants

Bird of paradise plants are best propagated by division in late spring or early summer, with enough of the growing season left for the new plants to recover.

Division works best with older, more mature plants that have naturally started to grow smaller offsets or suckers from the mother plant. You’ll need peat-free multipurpose compost and some perlite or horticultural sand to improve drainage, mix them in three parts compost to one part sand/perlite ratio.

Remove the parent plant from the pot, and ease apart the clump into the desired number of baby plants (young plants might only have one offset!).

Once you have separated the plants, you can return the parent plant to its original pot, filling the gaps with the new compost mix, and repot the remaining baby plants into new pots with the same compost.

Water well and keep somewhere warm and humid.

George Hudson is Head of Plants and Education at Walworth Garden, a South London charity delivering workshops, courses, therapeutic horticulture and plants for sale in a garden open to all. Follow on Instagram @walworthgarden

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