Your description leads me to believe that you're talking about the Giant Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia nicolai). These are grown primarily as foliage indoors as they need to be massive before they will bloom. If you want flowers you need to get Strelitzia reginae--but I can never seem to get these into bloom either.

Hi
I grow mine outdoors as yard plants but did you realize there are different cultivars by size as well color??
Obviously for houseplants you'd want to stick to the dwarfs. I suspect they would all require full sun,
Google the family "Strelitzia" not only several species
but different cultivars as well as hybrids.
They commercially produce these for the florist trade so must be a way?? gary