Bird of Paradise

Hi

I have a bird of paradise plant which I planted as a seed 5 years ago, now the plant is about 6foot tall, it has flowered once with just one flower.

There are quiet a number of stems on the plant I think it may be out growing it's pot, I keep it in the conservatory. There is at least one new shoot every two weeks roughly.

I would like to know:
a) how can I trim the plant down or alternatively
b) canI plant this outside? I live in Yorkshire itcan get quiet cold in the winter, will this kill the plant of?

Any advice gratefully received

 

Strelitzias can be put outside for the summer and overwintered in a conservatory or, preferably, a frost free greenhouse. Definitely not outside in Yorkshire, even in the South they need basic protection.They flower better being potbound and over potting can produce more leaf and less flower. You could cut the outer, older leaves off although it may not not look so good.
I'm sure more advice will be on the way soon.

 

I go along with most of what strongylodon has said.
You cant plant it outside unless your prepared to give it quite a lot of protection from frost during the winter.
I find that you only get one flower stem from one crown each year, so until the plant produces more crowns you will only get the one flower stem.
I understand the principle of them flowering better if pot bound, but they are a fairly slow growing plant in the best of conditions, and the more root room the faster they make more crowns.
If its 6ft tall it sounds a bit leggy to me, and a spell outside for two or three months a year in a sunny spot might make it more compact, you cant really prune them other than removing old dead leaves

 

Thanks for your advice.
I think I will leave it in the conservatory and hope it flowers again.
I'm not sure what you mean by 'crown'? Sorry I'm new to the world of gardening/plants.

Mo

 

Mo, when I say crown I may not be using the correct term, but I refer to the point where new leaves come from.
The flowers stalks emerge from what is the leaf axials, that is where the base of the leaf stalk joins the crown, these are only formed on leaves a year or two old.
Eventually you get what appears to be two new leaves appear back to back, that's a sign that the crown will splint into two.

This is not a good picture but I hope you can see two new leaves appearing from the same place at the same time, back to back.