
Shortly after I moved to California, I went to Home Depot one cold winter night and bought some plants for my balcony. One was a Birds of Paradise. It has always been one of my favorite plants, because it looks like a creature. I also love the orange and blue color combo (“opposite colors,” for those who know about such things). And it felt like a local plant, because I see so many of these in the area.
But for the past two and a half years, my Birds of Paradise were one color: green. All I got were the leaves and stalks, no flowers. I had watered them and used Miracle Gro, but otherwise am a bit of a black thumb. After the first year, I went back to the guy at Home Depot (who, by the way, claims and is said to be extremely knowledgeable about plants) and asked, “what’s up with my no flower flowers?” He said that Birds of Paradise can be temperamental when brought to a new home (they are creatures, after all), and that it was perfectly normal for them not to have flowered after a year.
paradise found? after the jump