Bird of Paradise

Here is what caught my eye in the shop today whilst looking for a plant mister. The gorgeously named bird of paradise.In cold and damp Yorkshire on the first day after spring began any bit of paradise will do.

Plants do their best to put on showy, sweetly scented flowers to attract pollinators. The birds or bee's etc.

Companys who sell plants think the same way as the plants.Bright interesting packaging surrounding a small plant.

I was hooked and it jumped into the basket, and is now on the kitchen windowsill.

I read tonight it originated in South Africa, and was named in honour of Queen Charlotte. Queen Victorias grandmother.

Queen Charlotte loved Botany and helped set up The Botanic gardens at Kew.

This plant was cultivated in around 1773. Her birthplace was Mecklinburg-Strelitz, a duchy in northern Germany.

The Bird of paradise is called Strelitzia, in honour of her.

It has been cultivated all around the world now and is the flower of Los Angeles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strelitzia_Reginae

I have repotted it in the pot i photographed earlier.I will catalogue its hopeful growth and flowering.