Bromeliad Auction and Billbergia Amoena

A few nights ago I attended a Bromeliad auction. What an amazing array of interesting, unusual plants.

Small representation of what was available! Wow!

There were so many South American species I’d never seen before, but this one REALLY stood out:

Billbergia amoena SU262

B. amoena SU262 is a larger hybrid of the endemic Brazilian species B. amoena.  At maturity, SU262 measures 20″ tall x 18″ wide, producing an erect showy inflorescence with rose colored bracts.  The bracts in the photo are a few weeks away from revealing blue tipped green flowers similar to those in the photo below:

Typical Billbergia Bloom

A unique feature of the pendulous billbergia inflorescence is the way the bracts create an umbrella to cover the flowers’ stamens/pistils.  This protective mechanism prevents pollen from being washed or blown away before insects can spread it to other flowers.

Billbergia amoena is surprisingly hardy in the landscape, able to withstand temperatures between 26-28F with minimal damage.  In Zones 9+ planting in full sun is ill-advised due to potential leaf burn. Morning or dappled sun works best.

Another interesting fact: Billbergias are equally at home mounted in trees or planted terrestrially (or in pots!), but good air circulation is key in all 3 environments.  When the inflorescence is nearly spent, pups form around the base of the “mother’ plant eventually forming large, clumping colonies.

Before I close, a few other photos from the auction:

Aechmea farinosa conglomerata

Aechmea kertesziae

Neoregelia “Carnival de Rio”

Until next time…

🙂 🙂 🙂

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Garden Housekeeping and Summer Poinsettia Care

Lately, I’ve been digging up and re-homing my ailing in-ground plants, and pruning and repotting anything that looked “squished” in its current container.  In particular, the bromeliads were so totally potbound, “pupping” was out of the question. Look what happened within 8 days of placing this huge fingernail brom in a proper-sized pot:

See the tubular looking “baby” sprouting to the right of the bottom-most leaf?  Ample space now to go forth and multiply. 🙂

Usually by May, my Christmas Poinsettias look two months beyond proper burial. 😉  But not this year!   This one looks so good, it’s worth the effort of maintaining, yeah?

If you want your poinsettias to color up for next winter, bring them outside NOW to take advantage of the higher light levels. (They need 6-8 hrs of direct sun each day)  Fertilize  once a week ( I use 10-10-10)  At the end of July remove the growing tip and upper few leaves of each stem to induce stocky branching.  In the fall, when night temperatures fall to the 50s,  bring the plants back indoors to the sunniest window you have.  Easy right?  Yes and no…on October 1, things start to get tricky!

From the beginning of October through Thanksgiving, poinsettias need total darkness  between 5 p.m.- 8 a.m. and nighttime temps between 65-70degrees. At 8am, put them back in bright light for the entire day.  Continue your established fertilizing and watering practices until the bracts show signs of coloring up.

When the bracts show a hint of color, it’s time to stop fertilizing and go back to providing  6-8 hours of full sun (or the equivalent from high intensity lighting)  Assuming all this works, think of the money we’ll save from not buying new poinsettias! 😉

In other “housekeeping” news, Jack was here for Mother’s Day, and dug me a new garden area:

This far end of the yard is a real MESS!  The philodendron in the back corner recently fell over, (and is slowly dying) the fence is gross, and the two narrow beds on either side of the newly dug spot need some serious beautification!!!!

The goal is to replace the mitchy-matchy pavers and turn the whole area into one undulating, cohesive spot that doesn’t turn my stomach! 🙂

Obviously a work in progress, but for now it features two plumerias, one already showing signs of flowers!!

These plants were stick cuttings with NO roots when Ivana gave them to me in January. In four month’s time, they grew thick roots that dangled from the holes of a 2 gallon container when I planted them on Sunday!

Anyway, that’s how I’ve been spending my time!  Jack’s gone back to Boston, so I’ll be coming ’round your blogs again with my usual frequency!

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day!

Until next time…..

🙂 🙂 🙂

Weekly Photo Challenge: Color

This week, WordPress asks us to share pictures in which color takes center stage. No problem!  My Neoregelias are coming into bloom, and more than happy to comply!

Neoregelias form a group of over 50 species and hybrid varieties within the larger family of bromeliads. Their rosette shaped, strappy leaves are usually green, maroon, or red with contrasting splotches/spots/stripes. When a plant comes into bloom, it assumes a flatter shape and the colors intensify, particularly inside the center “tank”

Regardless of leaf color, neoregelia flowers are typically white or purplish-blue, opening a few at a time from a pad-like inflorescence within the center cup. Look closely at the next photo and you’ll see both structures:

Two more flowers arrived this morning: 🙂   This is some serious color ❗

I’ve written a few other posts about Broms/Neos. If you’d like to learn more about dividing/repotting, read Harvesting Bromeliads.  Curious about the science behind the bloom-time color flush of the hybrid Neos below? Click this one: When Succulents See Red.

until next time……

🙂 🙂 🙂

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