Which is more hardy, Streilitzia nicolai, or Streilitzia reginae?

[Teegurr]

I heard that S. nicolai can come back after die back from the high teens, and I was wondering if S. reginae is as hardy, as I did see someone on here say it was actually more hardy than S. nicolai. Thank you for the help.

[Silas_Sancona]

  On 5/16/2021 at 2:30 AM, Teegurr said:

I heard that S. nicolai can come back after die back from the high teens, and I was wondering if S. reginae is as hardy, as I did see someone on here say it was actually more hardy than S. nicolai. Thank you for the help.

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S. reginae, easily... Both are planted around where i grew up in CA. Fully exposed S. nicolai gets nipped worse in our rare freezes there. Only time i personally have seen reginae killed was in a really shaded corridor, after the 1990 freeze when San Jose dipped to a low of 19F where it the official temp readings are recorded ( at the Airport, just north of Downtown ) and outlaying areas saw readings further down into the teens.

Grandparents used to have them lining the walkway up to their house. Would still be there i'm sure if my grandpa hadn't ripped them out several years later. Same plants got damaged pretty badly after that freeze but came back strong the following summer. That side of town is normally a few deg. cooler than the downtown area during frost/ freeze events in the winter.

** I should add that there in Texas, how reginae responds to the type of frosts/ freezes you experience there may be different than out in Cali. **

Edited May 16, 2021 by Silas_Sancona
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[Austinpalm]

  On 5/16/2021 at 2:30 AM, Teegurr said:

I heard that S. nicolai can come back after die back from the high teens, and I was wondering if S. reginae is as hardy, as I did see someone on here say it was actually more hardy than S. nicolai. Thank you for the help.

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I had S. reginae in Austin for several years.  It even flowered a couple of times.  I found it to be much hardier than S. nicolai.  I think I was only able to keep it alive for 2 years at most without significant protection.  S. reginae will have severe damage at times and will OFTEN look poorly.  I kept it in a warm spot in my yard and out of sight.  Was great to come around the corner and see it flowering the 2-3 times it happened, but usually it always looked like it was just getting established.  By the time it put on some size and flowered, here came another colder winter and back to square one. Give it a try.  Maybe you'll have better luck than I.

[edbrown_III]

I had S. nicolai in Jacksonville planted up agains the house --- pretty small plant. This was 1985---- we had a winter almost like what Texas had that year--- it got down to 10F in Jax ----- 12F up against the house (I remember reading this)  the S. nicolai came back from the rootz ---- got killed a few mor e  times to the ground but I still have it up against the house ---blooming right now 

[Xenon]

Both will come back from the ground after temps in the teens. S. reginae will recover more quickly overall and definitely flowers again sooner, possibly in the same year depending on the size of the underground mass. Imo, S. reginae is a warm 9a plant in Texas and S. nicolai is a 9b plant. S. nicolai is more likely to peter out if it's frozen back consecutively. Neither do well in colder 9a where they are more liable to freeze back a lot every year without building up a lot of mass imo. 

Edited May 19, 2021 by Xenon

[Fusca]

Like Ed my Strelitzia nicolai is planted up against the house and came back unprotected from the February freeze.  I was shocked! 

 

[Teegurr]

  On 5/19/2021 at 3:26 PM, Fusca said:

Like Ed my Strelitzia nicolai is planted up against the house and came back unprotected from the February freeze.  I was shocked! 

 

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Well, that's hopeful news! I guess both are worth trying, up against the house of course.

[edbrown_III]

never know when ye have a spat of good years and no hard f reeezes ----   other hard freezes in Tx and LA have visited here in NOrthern FL --- for the "Grace of God"  --- it stalled and didnt get here 

 

[Merlyn]

The leaf hardiness temp for Nicolai is around 30F at my place.  I had medium frost at 28F and heavy frost at 30F, and mine lost about half of their leaves.  A couple of years ago we had a 1 hour blast to 25F, and a neighbor's Nicolai were about 90% defoliated.  Reginae were untouched.

[Xenon]

Here is an example of how fast a large and established clump of S. reginae can bounce back IF it survives a few winters without major dieback. Low of 12F in west Houston 

[Collectorpalms]

Both types of mine have come back This spring after 4*. But I would stick with Orange as it Put out Flowers. The White never has for me, but it Shaded with overhead protection and does not fry unless it’s a windy 25F. It’s More enjoyable than evergreen bananas that fry at 32.

I always used bananas to test my microclimate in the city as it was my indication of who got to 32. (People would take their leaves for Asian cuisine.) Mine always stayed green the longest. However they died out on me ( bad soil and water) and now they are very $$. People The birds are more tolerant of soil type and sodium.

Edited May 23, 2021 by Collectorpalms

[RainforestCafe]

  On 5/22/2021 at 12:36 PM, Merlyn said:

The leaf hardiness temp for Nicolai is around 30F at my place.  I had medium frost at 28F and heavy frost at 30F, and mine lost about half of their leaves.  A couple of years ago we had a 1 hour blast to 25F, and a neighbor's Nicolai were about 90% defoliated.  Reginae were untouched.

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@Merlyn I came across this thread looking into the leaf hardiness for streltizia nicolai, the big white bird. I'm planting some out at my place for screening purposes, so I wanted to make sure it'll keep its leaves most winters. I plan on having it under pine/live oak canopy, and fairly protected with other plants and saw palmettos and such all around it.

When you mention the leaf hardiness for the white bird at 30F, and then your neighbor's getting 90% defoliated at 25F, is this under canopy or any sort of protection? Or just out in the open. 

[Merlyn]

@RainforestCafe the giant white bird has been pretty good for me above 30F, even with a bit of frost.  These are completely out in the open.  In the 20s you can expect some serious damage or stem deaths.  I have seen some under canopy nearby, and I recall them looking pretty good while mine were fairly torchy.  2 doors over there's a clump that's been there for 10+ years in the open.  It's super-dense and at least 15 feet tall, and even if it gets defoliated the trunks still block view through it.

I've been honestly considering a hedgeline of these, just because the trunks are dense and block a lot of sound.  But they'd probably get defoliated at my house almost every year, and I'm not sure I'd like the looks.  If your place rarely goes under freezing then they'd probably be a good choice.  Just know that on a random bad freeze it'll burn the leaves off.  I've only lost 1 trunk out of 20+ total in the yard in 5+ years of freezes, so they are pretty resilient.

[RainforestCafe]

Thanks for the quick reply! That's very good info for me to know.

I've recently moved further from the coast in Bradenton to a new place, about 15 miles from the coast vs the 1 mile from the coast that I was at before, so it gets quite a bit colder where I'm at now. From talking to the neighbors and looking at some of the weather stations around me, it looks like I can expect it to go under 32F about every other year, whereas on the west side of town, I never saw anything under 32F. The neighbors also said to expect a light frost each year, and a heavy frost maybe once every 10 years. That's why I was curious to see how they'd last out here, leaf hardiness-wise. I think I'm going to go ahead and stick them in and see how it goes. They grow so fast that in the worst case scenario if they get burned too often I can just yank them out and put something else in. I just love the tropical look they provide; I think they're one of my favorite plants, especially when used heavily with lots of them scattered around.

  On 3/11/2024 at 6:00 PM, Merlyn said:

I've been honestly considering a hedgeline of these, just because the trunks are dense and block a lot of sound.  

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I used them for this very purpose at my house over in West Bradenton a few years ago and they worked amazingly for this! I was in one of those tight neighborhoods where all the houses are really close, and our view out our front door was completely open to the neighborhood. So I put some of these up to block the view and it worked perfectly. Check out these before/afters, this first picture was from 2018:

Then the front view of them getting a little comfortable in 2019:

And then 2022 when everything was completely blocked:

Edited March 11, 2024 by RainforestCafe

[Merlyn]

@RainforestCafe yeah that's exactly what I'd like to see across my back yard!  In my yard I get ~28F every year, so mine get knocked back a lot.  If you just expect ~32F every other year then I think they'll do pretty well.  This year my absolute low was around 35, and mine show just a little general winter "unhappiness" but no burn.

I've also got them planted in mostly pure sand, and they are not particularly quick growing.  What did you do for watering and soil amending at your last place?  3 years to get from 4' to 20' is really great!

[RainforestCafe]

@Merlyn When I planted them, I mixed in compost at about a 50/50 compost/soil ratio, and then compost top dressing with pine bark mulch over it. I think I also mixed in a little Florikan when planting as well. And then they've got the irrigation from the yard sprinklers plus they have their own drippers so they're always getting alot of water. The irrigation is always running 2-3x/week, even in the summer so they're never dry. The soil is sand there as well, but it used to be tomato fields ~25 years ago before it was a subdivision so the soil is actually okay and has some organics already in it with a somewhat darker color than the pure sand you see often in Florida.  I also used to put the Florikan 8-2-12 down every 6 months or so, but then I switched and hired somebody to come do my fertilization, because I got tired of having so many bags and containers of different products in my garage like fertilizer, iron, sulfur, sulpomag, etc. and not 100% knowing what I was doing with it all 😂 Well worth the money.

 

[happypalms]

There both as tough as nails but the giant birdof paradise is a weed on my property I have destroyed 3 very large ones and  all 3 are very persistent in wanting to regrow so out came the drum herbicide last week I think that will fix them good and proper but if you have one next to your house do yourself a favour and remove it they will get rather large 

[RainforestCafe]

  On 3/13/2024 at 9:01 AM, happypalms said:

There both as tough as nails but the giant birdof paradise is a weed on my property I have destroyed 3 very large ones and  all 3 are very persistent in wanting to regrow so out came the drum herbicide last week I think that will fix them good and proper but if you have one next to your house do yourself a favour and remove it they will get rather large 

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I laughed when I read this, because I know exactly what you're talking about. There are 2 instances of this that I've seen in my neighborhood... one where the entire backyard has pretty much been taken over by giant bird of paradise. One section has literally become a massive 30' x 30' patch of BOP trunks and roots. And then my next door neighbor, who ripped out all of his.

He had it planted in the front yard, right next to a foxtail palm and up against the house. After 4 years in the ground, it had completely pushed the foxtail palm to the side and was taking over the house, so he took it all out. It is alot to manage, but I like it so it's worth it to me. I feel like it's a "use with caution" plant 😅

[happypalms]

  On 3/13/2024 at 7:18 PM, RainforestCafe said:

I laughed when I read this, because I know exactly what you're talking about. There are 2 instances of this that I've seen in my neighborhood... one where the entire backyard has pretty much been taken over by giant bird of paradise. One section has literally become a massive 30' x 30' patch of BOP trunks and roots. And then my next door neighbor, who ripped out all of his.

He had it planted in the front yard, right next to a foxtail palm and up against the house. After 4 years in the ground, it had completely pushed the foxtail palm to the side and was taking over the house, so he took it all out. It is alot to manage, but I like it so it's worth it to me. I feel like it's a "use with caution" plant 😅

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Let’s just say you’re one brave gardener post a story in five years time about your strelitzia see how you feel then for warned is for armed they are triffids and will eat your garden alive but yes you have to laugh about some plants that are little angels and so cute when small only to reveal themselves late4 w3 all some plant we dislike my one is the cocos palm and …………. 🤣

[Calosphace]

Reginae will be a much nicer plant for you than Nicolai. Reginae always flowers in my zone 9a/b.

Nicolai will generally not bloom in areas with a freeze, at least not a 28F or lower one in my experience and damage will make the plant rather unattractive. IMHO I'd just grow a medium or smaller banana or ensete variety instead of Nicolai as the foliage will be similar enough and you get more options for color and size.

Neighbor has let their top-killed Nicolai just sit on their side of the fence for over a year (they have a landscaping service too? why not tell them to do something?) and it is uglyyyyy but I also say this because garden I work at grows the species and I actually maintain them properly and still the specimens just do not look that good, bananas definitely superior in terms of a single year recovery

Edited March 14, 2024 by Calosphace