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sweetmonkeycheese

bop and false bop question

So I have figured out why my BOP plant has blooms when it is so small and why there is no blue yet... it is a fake, that is ok it came w/ the house and it is still pretty. I went through some pics of late summer last year and the big plant next to the clumps of the blooming fakes should be an honest BOP (thick greenish bottom part of flower and blue frilly sticking through the orange and it is much larger plant) The real BOP has nothing coming up that looks like a soon to be bloom, is it just still kinda early for it to bloom?

I am not a good gardener, I am just starting to learn how to bother w/ plants so I am more in the stage of weeding, some miracle grow once or twice and pulling the old rotten leaves off it. I have never pruned it (cut it) just pulled gross leaves off a few months ago.

I have heard the more root bound a BOP is the more it will bloom... mine is in the ground and and after a wet spring and heavy leaf litter I cleaned up the bed the BOP and fake BOP are in, pulled up weeds and some old spindly looking Mexican petunia, there were roots going every which way and I had no idea how to tell what was what.... maybe I damaged the BOP? ( I was pulling roots right along w/ weeds and dead rotten little water logged plants) The leaves are looking good, just no blooms yet while the fake BOP has 3 different plants w/ blooms.

any thoughts, tips ( about either plant )

Comments (8)

  • leahrenee1
    9 years ago

    You lost me, so you have one bird of paradise and a plant that looks similar but is not?

  • sweetmonkeycheese
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    yep, I thought they were all Bird of Paradise and I thought it odd that the big plant had no blooms and teh little plants did. I had heard that it can take 4 years for a BOP to bloom, we are new to this house and the plants were already here, but the little ones dont look like they would be 4 yrs old.

    Then I noticed that the blooms did not have the blue that a Bird of Paradise should have, but was thinking maybe that is a mature part of the flower and I just have to give it time. Then I ran across something called a False Bird of Paradise, They look very similar to a BOP, but are smaller and don't get the blue part of the flower.

    I started to think maybe none of the plants were a real BOP, but I found a pic from last year and the big plant has the blue and also a real BOP has a thick green bottom petal.

    I that now that I know why the little plants are in bloom, but the big plant is not is b/c a real BOP just does not bloom until later in the year. These are all outdoor in the ground plants, not in a pot so when I was weeding the flower bed and chopped a bunch of roots... I hope I did not hurt the real BOP plant and that is why it's not blooming.... crossing my fingers it is ok and just been some more time.

  • sweetmonkeycheese
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    The good thing is I like them all, false real, whatever all are pretty!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Heliconia - False BOP

  • sweetmonkeycheese
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Not a great pic, but the big plant to the right of pic is the real one, and all the little ones are the false BOP.

  • lac1361
    9 years ago

    The small plant in bloom is a heliconia. Looks a little like "Golden Torch". It's in the Heliconia Psittacorum family though.

    Steve

  • leahrenee1
    9 years ago

    I would just refer to them by their actual name of heliconia to avoid confusion in the future. ;)

  • sweetmonkeycheese
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Golden Torch, I like that name, when I looked up "plant that looks like BOP" heliconia came up and when I googled that it took me to wiki that said,

    "are naturalized in Florida, Gambia and Thailand.[3] Common names for the genus include lobster-claws, wild plantains or false bird-of-paradise. The last term refers to their close similarity to the bird-of-paradise flowers"

    But I like Golden Torch, so from now on that is what I will call her!

    I need to get the sound working on my laptop so I can hear what Heliconia sounds like - hard to remember the word when I am not sure how to pronounce it.

    Side note, I really want a "lobster claw" but the red one

    Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:912129}}

  • lac1361
    9 years ago

    Your picture is Heliconia Rostrata. Awesome plant. I container grow this plant as it readily blooms in a pot. Sensitive to frost; it won't make it here in my zone 9 environment in the ground unless we have a very mild winter or protected by wrapping the whole plant in a blanket. It blooms on second year growth so it needs to make it through the winter without any cold damage. Blooms in June here on the Gulf Coast. The leaves tend to shred and the stalks sometimes bend over in high winds. Best to plant in a protected spot. Can take a lot of sun.

    Steve