By Beatrice Hawkins
I called into the Free Times Office last week and the amazing “Eucharist lily” they have in a pot in the front office was in flower. What a beautiful indoor plant this is. The daffodil-like flowers with the green edging on the trumpet are really lovely. I am not good with indoor plants – spend too much time away I think – but I must try one of these. Lovely green leaves when not in flower and very beautiful and decorative when they bloom. Given how busy the office is I believe they must thrive on minimal care so would suit me… Jeremy actually thought it was artificial!! Don’t think he waters it much!!
While away again recently I saw some amazing strelitzia that I had never encountered. Absolutely huge. At least 20 feet high with extremely large leaves and spectacular white/pale blue flowers of the same style as the regular sized orange/yellow bird of paradise but in a size applicable to the height of the bush…about 18 inches long. This is botanically “strelitzia nicolai”. Spectacular and amazing to behold.
They are much more suited to coastal and tropical areas but very hardy, and in countries to our north can become a pest. Because of their invasive root system they should be kept well away from buildings.
They have the same amazing root system but commensurate with their giant size, so really are very hard to eradicate and control and can cause major structural damage.
All strelitzia are native to South Africa but have naturalised in some other countries.
Another piece of trivia is that this white variety is among the few plants to have been verified to contain the pigment “bilirubin”, most commonly found in animals.
The regular strelitzia that we all know is an extremely hardy plant attested to by the fact that they are growing down the centre of the very busy Pennant Hills Road in Sydney as a barrier between the lanes.
They seem to not only put up with the pollution from the traffic, but actually thrive and flower well.
While living down there I never saw them receive any care except every few years a really good hack back. The ferocity of this chopping could hardly be called pruning!
I have a friend here in town who has a lovely specimen doing extremely well at the end of her verandah. The flowers are a really useful item for flower arranging and hold well in a vase. Being so striking they make even an amateur flower arranger like me look good and require little else with them to look spectacular.
This variety, that we all know so well, is botanically “strelitzia reginae” and was named for Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz who married King George111 of England in 1761 and became queen. It has also been the national flower of Portugal since 2005.
Another variety I have seen in a few gardens over the years is “strelitzia juncea” or “rush leaved strelitzia”. It is very drought tolerant and has similar flowers to reginae but with really narrow rush like leaves as a mature plant. When young, the leaves are very similar to the other varieties. It is extremely hard to obtain and is becoming threatened in its native habitat in South Africa due to excess illegal removal for horticultural purposes. As would be expected from the leaf shape, they are thought to be the most frost resistant of all the varieties.
While all varieties are drought hardy they do require fairly fertile soil and really good drainage. If they don’t have good drainage their roots will rot and the plant will die.
Another reminder of the free night out with Brian Sams on the last Wednesday of May in the CWA rooms in Grafton Street. This will commence at 7pm, be very entertaining and informative and followed by supper. Everyone is welcome to attend and we look forward to seeing you there. Mark it well in your diary!!
For those of you on Facebook keep an eye on the Warwick Horticultural Society page for updates and interesting postings.
*This is an old article that has been digitised so our readers have access to our full catalogue
