I was (once again) looking through the pictures I have of my friend’s mom’s indigenous garden. While a lot of the plants look quite straggly and the garden uneven – indigenous gardens are wild and the antithesis of a prim rose garden – I came across these pics of a Strelitzia, which really stands out.
While Strelitzias are a dime a dozen in South Africa, they are in fact a unique and beautiful indigenous plant. Apparently the genus is named after Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the birthplace of Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III. It is also commonly known as the crane flower (in South Africa) and the bird of paradise flower as its flowers supposedly resemble the bird.
