nixwickedgarden

Vriesea hybrid ‘Christiane’ flower emerging–FINALLY!

Vriesea Cultivar hybrid of V. ‘Viminalis-Rex’ & V. carinata

I have found over the years that some die-hard Bromeliad Enthusiasts are against collecting hybridized plants.  I am not one of those people!  I’ll admit, when I started purchasing Broms, I didn’t even KNOW that quite a few of the plants that caught my eye were actually hybrids.  Even without obtaining these cross-pollinated beauties, it would take DECADES for the average collector to even  come close to owning all of just ONE genera of identified and named Bromeliads.  Not to mention, new species are being discovered and introduced constantly–many don’t even haven’t have proper names yet.  So, obviously, I have no chance of ever being able to purchase all of the Bromeliads I would LIKE to own.  Plus, some collectors I have gotten cool looking plants from haven’t kept detailed information about the origin of some of their hybrid plants lineage & so identifying them correctly is almost impossible.  This, I am coming to realize is OK.  Because many of these plants are for my own growing enjoyment.  So, my new rule for adding a plant to my collection is:  If I REALLY, TRULY dig it—Try to get it!  That goes for any plant–Agave, Aloe, Bromeliad, Cactus,Yucca and so on…

 My Partner has really warmed up to Agaves even though, as a rule, he can’t stand my vicious plants.  He occasionally gets skewered by the larger Agaves in the garden doing yard-work.  Even so, he has been bringing home pups for me of different species lately.  And that is fine by me!  Sadly, he hasn’t really taken a shine to any of my Terrestrial Broms–save for when they start to bloom and the hummingbirds begin swarming around them like gnats!  Even then, he says they are just “OK”.  He won’t go near ANY of them after tangling with my thicket of Bromelia balansae that is growing in a rock garden near our pool.  I will soon be posting some pics of a mature offset from this group that I replanted in our front yard.  The center of the plant started flushing bright scarlet a few days ago–the tell-tale sign that it’s blooming cycle has begun. It is sure to put on a great color show!!  🙂

The plant pictured above is Dyckia x’Precious Metal’ In mid to late spring unbranched tall wands of dark orange stalks emerge with bright orange flowers. San Marcos Growers received this plant with a group of unnamed Dyckia forsteriana hybrids that were growing in the Santa Barbara garden of the late Jim Prine. They gave the plant the name ‘Precious Metal’ to distinguish it from other D. fosteriana hybrids that they were growing.  I bought this clump of ‘Precious Metal’ from Sunset Nursery in Silverlake, CA (Los Angeles).  I need to start separating some pups from this clump as the plastic pot is starting to split from overcrowding.  One of the benefits of hybridization, is that in many cases the offspring plant ends up being very hardy and also “pups” prolifically (providing many offsets).  Which is good because, in the case of some Bi-generic hybrids, the resulting plants are “mules”—meaning they don’t produce viable seeds to grow new plants from.

Another one of my Dyckia clumps that is currently flowering is this Dyckia Platyphylla (pictured below).  This is a plant I have had for many years.  I have taken pups from this clump over the years and used them in landscaping several properties I have owned.  They spread into large colonies about 4.0 x 6.0 feet across!  I always thought that D. Platyphylla was a species discovered in nature.  I have read that it is the resulting cross of Dyckia marnier-lapostollei and Dyckia brevifolia.  I have always had trouble growing clones of Dyckia marnier-lapostollei as well as D. brevifolia.  But, Dyckia Platyphylla has always been one of my strongest growing Bromeliads.  Another example of a strong hybrid plant!

I’m planning on posting again soon–more plants are coming into bloom and I’ll snap more pics of them as I see ’em!  I have been quite busy with a new project I’ve got going but I really enjoy sharing posts here.     Happy June, everyone!