[Alisdair]

Hans, You imply here that you try not to water your Strelitzia. We do give ours quite a lot of water in summer, and get good flowers in winter, but really too much leaf growth. It is on a hot south-facing slope so I'm reluctant to let it dry right out. Do you think we should?

[ezeiza]

Strelitzia reginae likes water during the warm season. Although a drought resistant plant, with good waterings it clumps and grows so much better. Under frost free conditions in full sun, it flowers during 10 months.

[Alisdair]

Thanks for that advice, Alberto; we'll keep it on the irrigation.
Our single clump is now so very large and dense that I think we are going to have to divide it and replant - but that will be such a formidable task that at the moment it's on my Put Off Until Forever list.

[Alisdair]

At London's Chelsea Show this year the splendid exhibit staged by the Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden of South Africa includes a plant of the less commonly seen species Strelitzia juncea - its rush-like leaves perhaps an even more "architectural" foil for the flowers than in the usual Strelitzia reginae.