You may have seen Bird of Paradise at a local garden center, but did you know it has a tiny cousin? The Orange Bird of Paradise might be the perfect winter houseplant, and unfortunately it’s RARE to see them for sale up here.
Mine spends the summer outside and starts to develop large stems in October that will house colorful flowers all winter long. These plants like to be rootbound, and that’s why unlike many tropical flowers, they can live full, healthy lives in containers!
Orange Bird of Paradise need to develop a clump of about 30 leaves to be large enough to bloom, but once they start blooming they will bloom reliably every year.
There is truly no other flower like these in the plant world. The orange parts are called tepals and they can last for weeks. Every couple of days new tepals appear so these blooms look amazing for months.
“White Bird of Paradise” are more common as houseplants because they grow faster and the leaves are beautiful. Unfortunately those plants get too large to stay in containers forever & they are prone to lots of indoor pests.
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| Here's my White Bird of Paradise in my front yard when I lived in Florida (March 2019) |
Mine was purchased from a local plant nursery when I was living in Florida about 7 years ago. It bloomed its second year in Florida in a container and has bloomed every winter since. The photo below is from 2018 in my front yard in Florida. It bloomed later that year
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