Magilla Gorilla

Mahalo Mitchel. I found this plant at K-mart in Santa Barbara with a pallet of other Bird of paradise plants. It was the only variegated one. It was in a five gallon pot with two other birds that were not variegated. My wife was with me and I said "holy crap" I can't beleive my eyes. She said, you have enough plants and it's just a bird of paradise! Of course, I said it's not just a bird. I had to buy it. I think it was $15.99. I planted the other two in Santa Barbara and maybe they will push out variegated pups? I leagally imported this plant to Hawaii when I moved last year. It is the most variegated bird I have ever seen. It continues to push out amazing variegated leaves. I have a variegated large bird I left in Santa Barbara. It has a slight amount of variegation.

I would love to learn how to collect seeds from the flower. I have tried before but was unsuccessful. Anyone ever collect seeds from a bird of paradise?

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Andrew

momoese

I've collected seeds from GBOP but not the regular BOP. Not much to it, just let it sit there until the seeds form in the flower, and then let it sit there until the whole flower dries up. Although in thinking about it not all flowers the grow seeds. Must be a pollination issue?

momoese

Can I share that BOP photo on Facebook?

Magilla Gorilla

Thanks for asking. Most certianly!

I was never able to identify the seeds on other flowers from the bird. The large bird has bigger seeds.

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Andrew

jet123

Wow! Those variegated banana's are beautiful! You're lucky to have them all.

Yug

That Tanee and Ginger look really nice! Does the Tanee have edible fruit? Also, what color bloom does the ginger have?

Hammocked Banana

I second all the jelousy for that bop! Very nice, as is that tanee.

Magilla Gorilla

Tanee is a seeded banana. I just love the variegation. The ginger has yellow flowers. It's my favorite ginger.

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Andrew

Andre

Does the variegated ice cream banana produce variegated pups? As for the bird of paradise, Hawaiian birds might not ever pollinate that plant. It's very simple to hand pollinate then though, the blue petal splits open when you push it down(when birds sit on it), which is the pollen and at the very end, there is a shiny sticky part which is the female. They are not self fertile.
I was lucky to find a lightly variegated BOP at a Home Depot, it's not mature enough yet but I want to cross it with a separate variegated plant to hopefully get variegated offspring. This might sound insane but maybe we can trade pollen.

Magilla Gorilla

The variegated ice cream has produced a variegated pup. It's very small though. I have a variegated dwarf cav and it hasn't produced pups yet. When my bop flowers I will try to contact you. I wouldn't know how to collect pollen. I have a yellow flower bop that is near the variegated one. I just love variegated plants!

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Andrew

pushak513

very very nice, I havent lost my love for variegation either. I have a tanee and am working on getting a AeAe. a friend just went to the IAS show and was suppose to be on the look out for variegated things for me. Id really like to have a few more variegated nanners but the prices they have been selling for on ebay is just insane. wonderful collection.

Magilla Gorilla

Mahalo. Be careful with eBay. Many members have these and maybe be willing to sell them.

My experience was in zone 10. I killed a few before I got it right. Number one cause of death in my opinion was over watering. I have also found the smaller the pot the easier to maintain the moisture level. Many people think these plants need more acidic soil. I experimented with adding coffee grinds and it made more variegation. I would be very careful adding too much of any additive in a pot. You can easily overdue it. They are not hard to maintain here in Hawaii but required a little more care in Santa Barbara. Once the soil and location was right they did as well as any other variety. They also survived a few nights in the high thirties in zone 10.

I would post a thread asking for advice from others in your area.
I hope this helps. Take care
Andrew

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Andrew

Andre

I love variegated plants too but I've been having a hard time finding any. There haven't been any listings for ae ae banana on ebay exept for the one in thailand, and the variegated ice creams are going for a lot.
for the pollen, I think the simplest way would be to simply cut of the blue flower at the base(don't pull it out or you'll spill all the nectar) and seal it in a bag so it doesn't dry up. that should last a few weeks. I've even heard of people freezing pollen for months.

Magilla Gorilla

When it flowers again I will try to remember to contact you. Take care.

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Andrew