Anyone growing Strelitzia Nicolai in USDA zone 8? (aka. White Bird of Paradise)

[Sandy Loam]

Is anyone else growing White Bird of Paradise (Giant Bird of Paradise), aka. Strelitzia Nicolai in USDA zone 8 without any winter protection?

The attached photos were taken in Gainesville, a town in the north of Florida about 45 minutes south of Georgia (USA). Gainesville has been classified by USDA as Zone 8b until recently. A couple of years ago, USDA upgraded it to Zone 9a all over town except for the west-end suburbs, which remain zone 8b. In short, it's basically gardening in a zone 8b climate.

The first photo is of a Strelitzia Nicolai growing in Gainesville for many years without any winter protection. The second photo is a close-up of the trunks on the same plant.

I am also growing two of these myself in Gainesville, Florida. One has been there for 3 years and now has about 3 inches of wooden trunk. It will eventually grow like the one in the photo below.

For some reason, this plant is zoned on www.davesgarden.com as Zone 10a, but I have seen many of them here in Gainesville and in nearby Jacksonville too. Mine look battered by the end of the winter, but I just clip off any damaged leaves in March as new leaves start to emerge. The lower leaves underneath never seem to experience any damage because of overhead canopy, I suppose.

What are your experiences growing this plant in Zone 8? Am I not supposed to be growing this here?

[Sandy Loam]

And now for the second photo. This is a close-up of the trunk on the same plant pictured above. Click to enlarge.

Thanks again for your feedback, thoughts, and gardening experiences.

[Geoff]

Certainly not here in California… these grow great in zone 9b here, but even in that zone they get cut down severely during our occasional frosts into the mid 20s. Seen them killed outright at 22F (though sometimes grow back from roots). Seriously doubt they can survive an actual freeze (even roots might have trouble recovering).

[The Silent Seed]

I grow them in zone 5b, no problem….. indoors

[Pando]

I have two of them in zone 8b at my rental property in Riverside county, California, for more than 10 years. They seem to do fine when planted right next to the house. In winter there will always be a bunch of leaves frozen crispy, and sometimes I may lose a trunk, but the plant always seems to bounce back stronger than ever. They have seen freezing temps plenty of times with frost on the lawn and a layer of ice on the puddles in the street.

Just keep it well-watered, and remember not to cut the dead leaves off until spring when the weather starts warming up. Even though they look bad, those dead leaves will provide protection to other leaves and the trunks.

Edited October 15, 2014 by Pando

[mnorell]

I've seen photos of Strelitzia nicolai growing in suburban Atlanta (I think generally zone 8a), where they are frozen to the roots every year and resprout quickly in the heat of spring and summer. Gainesville is much warmer than Atlanta in terms of average lows as well as much higher average temps and an earlier onset of spring and later onset of cold weather in the fall. And remember that there is no "supposed to be" growing for any plant, within reason. We all take risks and the fact that you see this species growing all around you makes it a no-brainer if you want to try it. Just site it under some evergreen canopy-trees or protected by the eaves of your house, and preferably south-facing, to avoid frost damage. If you lose it to a very hard freeze some day, so be it. You can purchase these plants inexpensively and replant, though by that time you may have decided you'd like something else in that spot anyway. That sort of thing happens all the time...

And a note about USDA zones: don't take them too seriously. Gainesville has many frost-sensitive palms growing at UF that have been well documented on this forum in the past. Invest in a thermometer, note your own readings, and compare with personal weather stations around you (via Wunderground's wundermap or Weatherbug). You may be very surprised how warm your location is, as well as how many microclimates you have around your house.

[edbrown_III]

If you can protect it for a few years you might get a little bit of trunk and then hit it will super phosphate ----- can t beat the blooms --- I have them up against the house here in Jax. if your lucky you can get trunks up to 6 foot or so then the fantastic leaves. I have had them growing up against the house here for 25 years .

[Sandy Loam]

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. More comments are also welcome.

Ed, I suppose that your comments would apply up in coastal Georgia as far north as Savannah (?) and anywhere within 40 minutes of the northern Gulf of Mexico coast all the way across to Texas. I can't wait to get some serious trunks growing on my White Bird of Paradise (WBOP).

Goeff, thanks for your comments too. One difference about Florida with respect to your watering advice (at least in patches of clay soil, like mine) I was surprised to discover that one of my WBOP trunks actually rotted from overwatering and too much rain. That sucker simply died and pulled right off. I have even removed the mulch from around it and have totally stopped watering it. My other WBOP is plants in a slightly elevated spot, and it doesn't seem to have the same problems. I am surprised that these plants actually don't like too much water, or so it would seem from my experience.

Thanks to everyone else too.

[Matthew92]

I planted one several years ago in solid zone 8b. Seem to start burning below 28 deg. I would try to cover it in the hard freezes, and was able to keep it from being completely burned back in the low 20's for a couple winters, but after the high teens, all leaves were fried. However, it is so vigorous, it came back really quickly and became taller than me again within a year. This picture was taken shortly before it was killed to the ground.

[Bazza]

Hello Sandy,

Look to me like the one in your photo does have some help with heat radiation off the hardscape and wall there so I bet that helps it during freeze events. Even so, you can expect to have freeze damage and the larger they get the more damage you will have - just because it's taller and harder to protect with any covering. I used to use them on almost every project I could back before the freeze events from '08-'10, then I had a reality check and now only use them sparingly. Not only because of potential freeze issues but also when they reach a certain size they are a hassle to maintain. If you have one that is not in a crucial part of your landscape (accent or focal point) then you can afford to lose some foliage should you get a freeze event bad enough to harm it. You know where you are you'll never lose the plant itself - just a whole lot of it's leaves! Good luck!

 

A job we did.....check out the big White Birds in front of the pool cage! The purple ground cover is 'Blackie" Sweet Potato Vine, BTW. Pic taken 12-2007:

 

Fast forward to 2-2009 --------YIKES!!!

 

Nothing you can really do except prune away the damage foliage. We have a saying..."If it's brown....it comes down!"  Sad though..a work of art ruined by Mother Nature. Fool me once....

 

[Pando]

At my previous residence, I left the damaged leaves there until the temps got higher. It sure looked ugly for a while, but it actually protected the rest of the stems from further damage and started pushing new leaves from existing stems rather than starting anew from the ground up. Now I don't have to worry and enjoy looking at it over my neighbor's fence.

 

Edited January 5, 2016 by Pando

[Matthew92]

They work as a dependable perennial coming back up from the ground in zone 8. I've had one for the last several years. Came back strong after high teens.

Seems like the leaves start burning at below 28 degrees.

[NorCalKing]

I've had the leaves burn every time we hit the high 20's. They do come back, but it looks bad till the summer (or later) for it to recover. 

[Matthew92]

I also will say that even after you hit low 20's or high teens and the plant is essentially killed to the ground including the trunks, then in the spring, the leaves seem come back from those original stems, though at ground level.

[Matthew92]

  On 1/1/2016 at 6:38 PM, Opal92 said:

I planted one several years ago in solid zone 8b. Seem to start burning below 28 deg. I would try to cover it in the hard freezes, and was able to keep it from being completely burned back in the low 20's for a couple winters, but after the high teens, all leaves were fried. However, it is so vigorous, it came back really quickly and became taller than me again within a year. This picture was taken shortly before it was killed to the ground.

Expand  

Updated pictures how it looks today

Edited October 29, 2016 by Opal92

[Sandy Loam]

That looks like the smaller variety of streilitzia with narrower leaves and orange flowers. It doesn't look like a streilitzia nicolai to me, although others would know better than me.