One year ago, when my love and I moved into our first home in Lithuania, I was incredibly excited that finally, I can have plants in our apartment and even when we’ll be moving, I won’t have to leave them behind (before that we lived in London and we knew we won’t stay there for long). So on my first plant hunt, I noticed a nice looking Strelitzia plant. At that time I was just getting to know the plants one by one and knew nothing about this one in particular.
The plant I found at the store seemed quite young and I wanted to know how would it look like all grown up so I googled it. This is when I saw the fabulous blooms of this plant for the first time and learned that it’s also called a bird of paradise. Even though I knew that my plant might never bloom because I’ll grow it indoors, I still decided to take it because it’s leaves looked
Strelitzia plant requires a lot of water during Spring-Summer seasons so it must be good drainage in the pot to prevent root rotting. It’s best if the mixture for the pot is made out of compost, coarse sand and peat. Adding some pebbles at the bottom of the pot can make the drainage even better.
The bird of paradise thrives in a bright spot without direct midday sunlight. Morning or evening sun is much softer and therefore it shouldn’t harm your plant. I used to keep my Strelitzia on a window sill facing morning sun and now when we moved to another place, it got a spot with the evening sunlight and I can tell you both spots are great for it.
During Spring-Summer season, Strelitzia needs to be watered every time the soil is dry or almost dry. It should be watered generously but the excess water must be poured out of the plate. Fertilizer can be used from time to time but is not a must. Meanwhile, during Autumn-Winter, simply water the plant twice per month with water (no fertilizer).
Strelitzia is one of my favorite plants and I like that it’s simple to take care of. Besides, when the Spring began, it started growing like crazy and I couldn’t be more happy about that.