Growing the Giant Bird of Paradise Indoors
Strelitzia nicolai—also known as Giant Bird of Paradise, the banana leaf plant or banana leaf palm, is one of our favorite plants for Bay Area gardens, but did you know that this plant can also grow happily indoors? It’s important to know what you’re dealing with, so if you want to try the Giant Bird of Paradise as a houseplant, read on for some helpful tips and information.
As long as you have a very bright location, giant bird of paradise can thrive inside. If you want to grow it as a houseplant, just be sure that the specimen you’re purchasing was itself grown indoors, in a greenhouse. In general, plants that are grown for outdoor use won’t take well to being moved inside.
We grow this plant ourselves at Grubb & Nadler Nurseries, our wholesale growing grounds in Southern California. These babies (above) are from the production crop in our greenhouse!
Strelitzia nicolai grown indoors need plenty of light and regular generous watering. Choose a bright spot (lots of natural light from a nearby window throughout the day). Water these plants when the top inch of soil is dry, but you can still feel moisture just below the surface. Don’t ever let the soil dry out completely!
Spider mites are a common problem with giant bird of paradise plants grown indoors. To avoid this, it's important to keep the dust off of the leaves by wiping them down with one teaspoon of rubbing alcohol mixed into a cup of water. Try this at the first instance of mites, and it should help!
This plant can be shy to bloom when its grown as a houseplant, but that’s probably a good thing, as the flowers drip nectar!
At Flora Grubb Gardens plant store in San Francisco, we almost always have Strelitzia nicolai in stock for indoors and outdoors. Giant bird of paradise grown for houseplant use can be found in our Sun Room area. You can always ask our staff to make sure the specimen you choose is right for indoor growing.
If you’re interested in growing this plant outside in your garden, read more about it and see design examples here.
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