Tucson Bird of Paradise
July 28, 2008
Post Tags: bird_of_paradise , flowering_bushes , mexican-bird-of-paradise , Snowbirds
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Any one that has ordered flowers from a florist or has traveled to Hawaii knows what bird of paradise look like. When they come to Tucson and ask what those beautiful flowering bushes are and are told they are bird of paradise the first response is, “That’s not a bird of paradise.”
To which we say, “Maybe not where you come from, but around here that is a bird of paradise.” We Tucsonans leave off the “Mexican” in front of it, just a local custom to confuse the snowbirds and tourists.
The Mexican bird of paradise bloom in summer and fall and are dormant in the winter. They are everywhere and a standard of landscaping because they are hard to kill and bloom all summer long. They survive the winters by going dormant but we all look forward to their return the following spring.
Most are the red, orange, yellow variety with the little balls of future blooms on top. There are a few of the all yellow ones around and make a great contrast to the most popular variety.
One of the fun things to see is when a family member or friend will ask the the recently informed, “What is that flower”
They smile and respond, “That’s a bird of paradise, didn’t you know that?”
“That’s not a bird of paradise?”
