Bird of Paradise flower

These fabulous exotic flowers, native of South Africa, are found growing in our area on road sides, traffic islands, in many many public and private gardens. In some cases they seem to thrive on 'almost' neglect!
Their botanical name is Strelitzia, and they always look very grand.
However, no matter what we do, to look after our plants, in all the years we have lived and gardened here, we have never once been able to produce a Strelitzia flower!