Bird of Paradise Mutation? Or is this Normal (flower, growing, tree)

[Eemedrelyt]

Hello,
When living in Florida I bought this Bird of Paradise plant from a local nursery. About 2 years ago I ended up moving back home to Minneapolis. Since then my Bird of Paradise has been doing well and continues to be doing well. However, there are some things with my plant that seems quite odd. I was wondering if anyone could tell me if this is all normal? I'll list out what I mean below.

First, the plant itself has split off into what seems to be multiple plants but in reality it is still the same plant. Look at the pictures I provide. The original middle part where new growth comes in has split into multiple new middle parts for more new growth to come in.






There are areas where a leaf stem grew and created two leaves stuck to each other.




Second, I have noticed that this year around my plant is blooming with flower stalks growing from the side of the plant. Is this normal? Pretty much the flower stalk grew from somewhere within and ripped through the side base to grow (see attached image).



I apologize if all of this is actually normal for the plant to do. For being someone that has never seen anything like this happen to any kind of tree or plant, I can't help but feel shocked that it seems my plant mutated or something!


Also, I have some additional general questions.

1. When is it safe to cut off a pup plant growing from the parent? How do you know the roots are okay to cut? I'll provide a picture. Do you think this would ever be safe to cut off and replant once it grows a bit more?



2. Do leaves tend to fold in when it is too cold or when they aren't getting enough sun?

3. When new leaves grow in, they usually alternate between growing out towards the left or right. In my case, there are area of the plant where new leaves keep growing towards the left and none are growing towards the right. Is this normal?



Thank you for any help!

[2Q&Lrn&Hlp]

From your photos it appear that your plant is growing indoors.

To my way of thinking --and personal experience with other types of plants-- I am going to guess that the plant is growing more on the side that is receiving the most sunlight . . . which is typical. The other side may be getting a lot less light &/or warmth.


Out in the yard, sunlight would be more likely to come from various directions, maybe not all at the same time, but at different times during the day . . . some of it possibly reflected.


Yes, it is natural for your plant to divide & make more plants in a clump.

This article tells when to dig them up to separate them to make more clumps, and how many shoots to have in each clump taken off:

"What is the Life Cycle of a Bird of Paradise?"
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/life-cycle-bird-paradise-76651.html

[owslesea]

don't use miracle-gro

[fresnochili]

Normal looking plant. I have one in my front yard near my door. It's been there abt 40 plus yrs. and thrives. I could remove clumps for other plantings, but I don't want to distrub it. Some of the blooms seem to have their 'own ' personality at times, the way they grow.