I bought one two years ago and it grew like crazy here in Zone 8. I even divided it and traded part of it and it is huge now! Good luck...you'll be glad you bought them.

Leona

You can grow them. Don't let garden centers tell you that they will die at 32 or even 40 degrees. They can easily survive to 28-25 degrees, as I live in zone 9 and have seen plenty of them around (in the ground).

There are lots in Berkeley...

Amanda 'romando'

How long do they take to flower. Our local kmart has some for 20.00 They are about 5 ft tall now. Do they have to get really tall before they will flower? TIA
~SJN

I heard that they may take a few years to flower. However, they have such beautiful and giant leaves, I think the flowers can have their turn later, LOL!

i just bought one from Homdepot for 5dollar in one gal.
how should BOP be water? is it like regular water or dry ground?

They do not need a lot of water.

There are no big Giant Bird of Paradise in Sacramento. The foliage will regularly burn in freezes at about 28/29F in northern California, and while they will come back from the roots, Sacramento regularly gets these temps almost every winter. So if you expect to have a trouble free plant that looks good year round, you better be prepared to protect this plant from freezing, and with their size as they get larger, this isn't the easiest thing to do.

There are alot of GBOP's in Berkeley/Oakland, and they do much better here because we usually only get 28F about every 10 years. The younger plants were burnt here in last January's freeze, and my own plants in my garden were just barely singed at 28F, but were also somewhat protected by overhead deciduous trees, and these low temps only lasted for a couple of hours, rather than all night long. The same plant was killed to the ground at 25F for 10 days in a row in the 1990 freeze, but is now 18 feet tall. This is in Berkeley, Sunset zone 17...

Not a good choice for a landscape plant in Sacramento/Sunset zone 14 conditions, better in Sunset 16/17 here in northern California.

FYI, the 99 cent store always seems to carry BOP 2" plants. I bought one about a year ago and it quickly grew to about 5' in a larger pot. I am assuming it is the giant, white BOP because the leaves are larger than the orange/blue BOP. I cut it down somewhat to take to a plant trade gathering, but forgot it at home :-(. It is now about 3-4' again.

Yes this is an old thread, but I need to make some points clear. In replying to bahia:

GBP do grow in Sacramento just fine. If you are downtown/midtown, I have seen multiple plants over 10-15ft. That's because certain areas are almost zone 10a there. But as you move away from downtown, then you quickly move into a solid zone 9B and average temps are 27-28F for a low. I have however seen some growing that defy the odds like in Folsom and was around 15 ft high. I live outside of downtown and GBP do not die, but they are limited to around 6ft due to the cold unless they are protected.

hhhmmm
think you guys are talking about the white bird of paradise Strelitzia nicholai, never heard them called giant bird of paradise. Or are you talking about Traveler's Palm (Ravenala madagascariensis)?which some people confuse for both birds, though close relative.

Hello: my BOP is at least 7 years old and never have I seen it bloom. It is in full sun and it is at least 10 feet tall. what to do?

People are entitled to believe what they want to believe about what their climate zone is. I wouldn't make a claim that parts of downtown Sacramento could ever be considered almost a zone 10a, just as I think it is a stretch to consider my part of Berkeley a reliable zone 10a, although it may be 9 out of 10 winters. We are talking about Strelitzia nicholai here, the Ravenella simply doesn't tolerate northern California winters, the soils stay too wet and cold and they rot away.

While there may be the occasional Strelitzia nicholai in downtown Sacramento up against buildings which benefit from reradiated heat and don't tend to look frozen back after each winter, the foliage will get zapped in a major way when temps drop below freezing here. In a hot summer area like Sacto, they will regrow new foliage more quickly, but the mature size will be restricted by being frozen back so often. This plant would really only be suitable as a long term specimen, in my opinion, where it is up against a wall or protected by an overhang or evergreen trees. Out in the open in a Sacramento garden, it will tend to get frozen browned foliage almost every winter, and 25F temps will kill it back to the ground.

They can bloom at smaller sizes, I've seen 15 gallon sized plants in southern California that may only have had 3 feet of trunk blooming, as I've also had some that were relatively young and foliage topped out at 10 feet bloom here in Oakland. I've also got one in my front yard that has 10 feet of trunk that has never bloomed yet. Full sun, hotter weather year round and regular feeding will encourage them to bloom at smaller sizes, and also being planted in the ground.

Not to discourage someone from planting one in a USDA zone 9b climate here in northern California, but be prepared to cover them if you don't like looking at burnt foliage for 6 months out of the year after a freeze. They do burn foliage right at 32F here in Berkeley, if it is more than just an hour or two.

If you're in a protected location (be it in Sacramento or Berkely) you can go several years without getting any significant frost damage. However, if a hard freeze rolls around, like they tend to do every ten years or so, they will definitely freeze to the ground, and re sprout the following spring. There are very large ones in Fresno near downtown, as well as along residential areas adjacent to the San Joaquin River, that are over 15 feet tall, trunk and all.

That being said, mine here in rural Chowchilla have never trunked. Even the old ones around town are a large clump of leaves, almost like a strelitzia reginae on steroids. Good luck!

I wish the orginal poster could report back on the fate of those plants.if he still has that home.
This years lows in Sacramento were in the bonechilling-22-28f range I hear. At 30f long enough I've had (2007) all leaves singed in Hayward. This years 30f was so short-very little damage to parts of some leaves. But that heat in Sacramento sure makes for out of zone plants do well.
I heard that a Vintner in Modesto-Gallo? has a huge covered courtyard with Howea,King palms and GBOP with tall dwarf phoenix.
Is it heated in extreme cold? I dont know-but wouldnt doubt it!

I'm in Healdsburg, California, which I believe is zone 9a and I have a Giant Bird of Paradise in a large pot in a sheltered area of my backyard on a patio facing west. It seems to like it there and now (in March) it's putting out several new leaves. I wasn't sure how well it would do in this location but due to its success I'm encouraged to buy more of these since they create such a wonderful tropical feel in the garden. I'm told that unless they get quite a bit of direct sun they probably won't flower, however it's the foliage that's most important to me.

The upper twenties freeze this year almost killed mine. It will take years for them to come back to how they were.