If you are old enough, you will remember the first time you have seen a Strelitzia blossom! Yes, because it’s like looking at a strange being from another planet! And they only became popular in the 1980s, soon competing with orchids in exotic qualities and price… An in fact, they are called birds of paradise because they seem to have wings, and a beak, and because their blooms have amazing and vibrant colors… Then, these tropical perennials from South Africa, where it is called crane flower, with immense glossy leaves also found place in our gardens, and now we have a few varieties we can grow. But only in hot climates, or some indoors.
Strelitzia is a genus of tropical perennials, with a few species that have found their ways into our gardens and flower shops, but, despite their super exotic and even alien personality, birds of paradise are easy to grow and they can become stunning protagonists in borders.
It is really hard to choose one variety to grow in your garden, because they are all so incredibly showy that they will transform it forever! So, let’s see which types of Strelitziayou can grow!
6 Varieties of Exotic Bird of Paradise Plants
There are not that many varieties of bird of paradise, and in fact, this list will show them all to to you, from the popular Strelitzia reginaeto hardy known species.
- Bird of paradise
- White bird of paradise
- Narrow leaved bird of paradise
- Mountain bird of paradise
- ‘Mandela Gold’ bird of paradise
- Giant bird of paradise
All these birds of paradise are waiting for you, but first we need to understand why Strelitzia has such exotic flowers, so we can then describe the, and identify the different varieties…
What Is A Bird of Paradise Flower Like?
The blooms of Strelitzia are so unusual that we need to get a few terms right if we want to describe them…
Starting from the bottom, you will see a usually greenish and conical and pointed leaf, that seems to hold the blossoms like a boatspathe saucer… That is a spathe, though you will find it erroneously called a “sepal” in some texts.
Just above it, you will find a very, very pointed petal like and arrow shaped structure, usually purple, and that is actually the pistil that bears the stigma.
The pistils are hidden inside it, and at its base, you will find a little urn, or vessel like structure, that is the nectary. As you know, bird of paradise blossoms are super rich in nectar, and you can literally see it it drip. And if you touch the flowers, you you will find them sticky with it!
The “wings” of our bird like bloom, pointed as well, are actually the real petals, or, to be really correct, they are tepals.
Opening from a single spathe you can get more than one flower, in fact, Strelitzia blooms are, technically inflorescences, and you can count them, one for each pistil…
And now you can describe these amazingly exotic flowers, let’s meet them all, starting with a real queen!
1: Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae)
Its scientific name means “Stelitziaof the queen”, and it is the most famous variety and of them all. And in fact, bird of paradise has won the most prestigious gardening prize in the whole wide world, the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society, and it is also the first species that has found its way in the market.
The spathes are greenish, but with dashes of red, orangish, and purple on them, and they can be 6 to 10 inches long (15 to 25 cm!) and each can carry three to seven individualblossoms. The bloom will last from spring to fall, more vigorously early in the season, and it can even start in late winter if the climate is hot.
Each flower lasts a week, but each inflorescence can last for more than a month… The arrow shaped pistils are rich purple violet in color, with a white stigma, while the other tepals are bright orange. This exotic floral display also benefits from very long, evergreen and lance shaped leaves with a rubbery texture, deep green, with a sturdy mid rib and incredibly glossy indeed!
Strelitzia reginaecan really take the crown in a tropical border, in fact, the queen of bird of paradise flowers will become a focal point in your garden, where you can grow it as a tropical accent plant, in containers and even as a showy presence on pool sides. It is also a very strong perennial, and it forms large and leafy clumps thanks to its underground rhizomes. It is also kept as a houseplant, but you will need space, and it will steal the show from all the rest!
- Hardiness: USDA zones 10 to 12.
- Light exposure: full Sun and partial shade.
- Flowering season:late winter or spring to early fall.
- Size:5 to 6 feet tall (1.5 to 1.8 meters) and 3 to 4 feet in spread (90 to 120 cm).
- Soil and water requirements: fertile and humus rich, well drained and medium humid to dry loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from moderately acidic to mildly alkaline. It is drought tolerant.
2: White Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia alba)
And now, we meet white bird of paradise, certainly less common than our first pick, but really striking if you see it. Of course, Strelitzia alba has snow white petals, and this gives it its name. But the story does mot end here… Blooming from mid summer to early winter, its massive inflorescences can reach 12 inches long (30 cm), and they don’t come on top of the foliage, like with Strelitzia reginae, but under them… But it is not just one color, at all!
In fact, the arrow shaped pistil is of a lovely pastel blue color with some violet undertones, while the beak like spathe is black, and quite thick as well. Each of them can hold a few blossoms, however, from my experience it is not as floriferous as her more popular sister.
This long lasting floral display will appear in the shade of the banana like leaves, which are massive and they arch above the flowers, like deep in a rainforest, and they are glossy, rubbery and rich green, up to 6 feet long (1.8 meters!), but they also cut easily, like with Musa, giving you a frond like effect as you get with some palms. But there is a final touch… The thick and smooth, lustrous petioles form a wonderful pattern of V shapes, reminiscent of triangle palm, or Dypsisdecaryi…
While white bird of paradise is not as common as Strlitziareginae, it will certainly strike your visitors for its large and unusually colored blossoms, and it can be an accent plant in a tropical garden. It is quite big, almost tree sized, so you cannot have indoors, and it is ideal for an exotic, Mediterranean or coastal garden.
- Hardiness: USDA zones 10 to 12.
- Light exposure: full Sun and partial shade.
- Flowering season: mid summer to early winter.
- Size:12 to 15 feet tall (3.6 to 4.5 meters) and 6 to 8 feet in spread (1.8 to 2.4 meters).
- Soil and water requirements: fertile and humus rich, well drained and medium humid to dry loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from moderately acidic to mildly alkaline. It is drought and salt tolerant.
3: Narrow Leaved Bird of Paradise (Strlitziajuncea)
Here’s a very unusual variety of Strelitzia, called narrow leaved bird of paradise. While the flowers will remind you of those of Strelitzia reginaein shape, size and color, they will open in late fall, and they will blossom all through the winter season and to the end of spring! The spathes are about 8 inches long (20 cm), pointed and beak like, as you would expect.
On them, you will see a rich magenta purplish to ruby shade at the base, where they attach to the sturdy stems, but then this fades to grayish, violet or bluish tonalities, and even green… The pointed and arrow shaped pistil will give you deep and vibrant to pale blu, while the wing like tepals are of a super bright golden orange!
But this is not what makes this species exceptional… No, as you might have guessed this floral display emerges from cane like, pointed, cylindrical leaves that form a very unusual clump, like the back of porcupine! And this sculptural evergreen foliage also offers you a bluish color, with some greenish and even pinkish blushes!
Ideal to give your garden a pointed twist and exotic blooms all through the winter season, narrow leaved bird of paradise can take center stage in a hedge or border, providing a vertical accent and real sculptural qualities, but you could also grow it against a wall, to transform it into a topical backdrop all year round.
- Hardiness: USDA zones 9 to 12.
- Light exposure: full Sun and partial shade.
- Flowering season:late fall to late spring.
- Size:4 to 6 feet tall (1.2 to 1.8 meters) and 4 to 5 feet in spread (1.2 to 1.5 meters).
- Soil and water requirements: fertile and humus rich, well drained and medium humid to dry loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from moderately acidic to mildly alkaline. It is drought tolerant.
4: Mountain Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia caudata)
Yes, mountain bird of paradise come from grassy slopes and high altitude forests in South Africa, and it is a natural species which is not yet very popular with gardeners – still a bit rare to see… While its blossoms may look like Strelitzia alba, they have a special quality, which is expressed in its scientific name, S. caudata, or “with a tail” because the tepals have an appendage.
These are fully candid snow white, while the pistil is of a pale pastel blue color, very elegant and heavenly indeed… All this rests on a long and thick beak like spathe, actually, massive at 12 inches from base to tip (30 cm), and it is very dark purple in color, almostblack but glaucous. Each inflorescence will bear a few flowers, from late fall to mid winter – a fairly long season when blooms are most in need!
And this will happen under foliage… But this is also quite a big evergreen perennial indeed, growing into tree, up to a whopping 26 feet tall (8.0 meters), and forming a strong woody stem that bears a fan shaped set of glossy, oval leaves like those of bananas, in rich green at the top. Each is about 6.6 feet long (2.0 meters) and 2 feet wide (60 cm), and what a leafy spectacle they are!
Of course, not a variety you can grow indoors, mountain bird of paradise belongs with Strelitzia alba and Strelitzia nicolai to the “banana like” group. Its tree sized dimensions make it as a specimen or in groups for a leafy and tropical accent plant, and blooms during the winter months!
- Hardiness: USDA zones 10 to 12.
- Light exposure: full Sun and partial shade.
- Flowering season:late fall to mid winter.
- Size:20 to 26 feet tall (6.0 to 8.0 meters) and 10 to 16 feet in spread (3.0 to 5.0 meters).
- Soil and water requirements: fertile and humus rich, well drained and medium humid to dry loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from moderately acidic to mildly alkaline. It is drought tolerant.
5: ‘Mandela Gold’ Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae ‘Mandela Gold’)
Here is the only known cultivar of Strelitzia reginae, and of the whole genus. Like bird of paradise, ‘Mandela Gold’ has a long blooming season that lasts for a long time, usually from late fall to late spring, usually in waves… And they do look like those of the mother species, but with some important differences.
Each spathe can hold 5 to 7 individual flowers, and is dutifully beak like, showing you purplish, greenish and bluish stripes that fade into each other, and a cream white area at the base, where it attaches to the sturdy and long stems. The nectary is quite visible, and the same bright but deep blue color as the pistil, with touches of sapphire and cobalt… The tepals that look like feathers, or wings, that rise on top of this exotic show are golden, of course, almost yellow, but dark, towards the orange range.
Each inflorescence is about 6 to 8 inches long (15 to 20 cm), emerging from am very lush and florid clump of long and broad, lance shaped leaves with a very glossy and rubber like texture, in shades of bluish green, and growing from an underground rhizome that helps it spread.
‘Mandela Gold’ is also smaller than her mother, growing to 5 feet tall maximum (1.5 meters), and for this reason it has become a favorite in tropical and Mediterranean gardens, where it can add its leafy and flowery beauty to borders, hedges, screen walls, or grow in containers, and it can also do indoors as a houseplant.
- Hardiness: USDA zones 10 to 12.
- Light exposure: full Sun and partial shade.
- Flowering season: late fall to late spring.
- Size: 4 to 5 feet tall (1.2 to 1.5 meters) and 3 to 4 feet in spread (90 to 120 cm).
- Soil and water requirements: fertile and humus rich, well drained and medium humid to dry loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from moderately acidic to mildly alkaline. It is drought tolerant.
6: Giant Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia nicolai)
And we conclude our exotic journey with a colossus, the biggest of them all. Aptly called giant bird of paradise, Strelitzia nicoligrows to an impressive 33 feet tall (9.0 meters), and as much in spread. This means that it is only a garden variety, but its hight is not all… The blooms are massive as well, up to a whopping 20 inches long (50 cm)!!!
And, what is more, they can open all the year round, though usually not continuously… The pointed and beak shaped spathes are purplish to gray, glaucous and they appear under the foliage… On top of them, you will see the arrow shaped pistils, which can be blue to violet, sometimes more on the cobalt size, but usually more lavender when young.
And the feather or wing like tepals are fully white, like snow, and very luminous indeed! All this impressive floral display will take place under an umbrella of enormous leaves, up to 10 feet long (3.0 meters) and similar to those of bananas, sometimes with horizontal cuts, but always very glossy, rubbery un texture, and rich green!
Giant bird of paradise will definitely need a big space to grow well… It is more of a collector’s item, for botanic gardens and public parks in tropical or Mediterranean regions… But if you can afford it, it will definitely become a start in your green haven, as an accent or specimen plant for all year round blooms and massive leaves.
- Hardiness: USDA zones 10 to 12.
- Light exposure: full Sun and partial shade.
- Flowering season: all year round!
- Size: 20 to 30 feet tall and in spread (6.0 to 9.0 meters).
- Soil and water requirements: fertile and humus rich, well drained and medium humid to dry loam, clay or sand based soil with pH from moderately acidic to mildly alkaline. It is drought tolerant.
Birds of Paradise for an Exotic and Heavenly Garden
Few plants can match the super exotic personality of Strelitzia, or bird of paradise, and now you know all the varieties available to turn your garden into a tropical heaven of massive leaves and colorful flowers!
Written By
Amber Noyes
Amber Noyes was born and raised in a suburban California town, San Mateo. She holds a master’s degree in horticulture from the University of California as well as a BS in Biology from the University of San Francisco. With experience working on an organic farm, water conservation research, farmers’ markets, and plant nursery, she understands what makes plants thrive and how we can better understand the connection between microclimate and plant health. When she’s not on the land, Amber loves informing people of new ideas/things related to gardening, especially organic gardening, houseplants, and growing plants in a small space.