Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Love/ hate relationship


I have a white bird of paradise plant. I love the big white bird shaped flowers with the dark purple pods it gets on it's stalks. The contrast of the purple against the bright green stalks is wonderful. But I hate the size of the plant. It grows very tall and sends out baby plants that also grow very tall. It requires constant thinning and since it is growing next to our pool cage we have to make sure it doesn't poke it's way through the screens. When I bought it I thought I was getting an orange bird of paradise; those don't grow tall but they multiply by sending up baby shoots the same way. The orange flowers are on a stem and can be picked for a stunning arrangement, the white ones cannot. They are fun to paint no matter what color they are.

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