Roots

The flowers of the Strelizia regina have featured many times in this journal.

This year the crop was not very productive and in fact we gave away one potted plant.

It all started as a seedling bought from a nursery probably 20 years ago. That grew into a large plant which we subdivided and those two in turn grew into large plants. So much so that this year, we gave one pot away to friends, who have subdivided it. And now it is time for us to do so again. The plant has become very pot bound and on turning it out, reveals a large bunch of fleshy, parsnip- looking white roots.

The tough part is to reduce the roots and separate the two obvious growth areas into two, repot them and bring them inside for the winter.

One section has a flower spike which I hope will survive the brutal treatment.