Billbergia Windii is one of the oldest hybrids in the bromeliad family, the result of crossing B. Nutans with B. Decora in the 1870s at the National Botanic Garden of Belgium.
As you see in the picture, strappy yellow/green leaves grow tall and tubular, creating water collecting “tanks” in the plant’s center. Throughout the year, organic detritus builds up in these “micro-oceans,” feeding and prepping the plant for bloom time.
B. Windii’s magnificent flowers appear overnight (literally!) as a pendulous inflorescence of rosy-pink bracts. Within a few days, long yellow and pink flowers–margined by blue and green–emerge from the tip:
Here’s a closer look:
Hard to imagine, there’s more to come! Each inflorescence takes a full week to open, with the perianth rollback signalling the final stage:
Although B. windii is an epiphyte, it grows well in soil, too. With Florida’s intense summers, morning sun and shade in the afternoon keeps the colors vibrant without risking leaf burn. In other parts of the country, full sun is recommended.
To learn more about billbergias and other bromeliads visit the Internationall Bromeliad Society Journal Archives.
Until next time…..
🙂 🙂 🙂
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- Who Knows This Plant (gwenniesgarden.wordpress.com)
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