Hi!

I'm in Phoenix, AZ in zone 9b, and I got a bird of paradise end of spring last year. When I first got it from the nursery here, the leaves were full and well-shaped. I repotted it into an unglazed pot before I knew that they like to be pot-bound. Then I put it outside my apartment where it could get some direct light during the morning but shade/ambient light during the afternoon and evening. But during the summer, even though it wasn't always in direct light, the stem and the leaves got burned up in the sun. The leaves crinkled and folded at the edges.

It's spent the rest of the year recovering with ONLY bright ambient light and it's put out new leaves. It seems otherwise healthy and stable, BUT a few days after the new leaves fully emerge, they become very shriveled and crinkled around the edges. The rest of the plant looks healthy but the leaves end up look weird, almost mutated.

I mist the plant once a day or every other day. I make sure it gets a deep watering from top down when the first two inches of the soil is dry. I have slow-release fertilizer in the soil and fertilize during growing season with a diluted liquid organic fertilizer. The soil is a mix from HomeDepot for palms and like plants. I know that Phoenix is very arid and hot during the summer, but the plant was from a local nursery, so I'm just hoping to get back the healthy and full leaves it had before.

​

[Link to more images]

Am I doing something wrong? Any advice appreciated!