Crocosmia? The unopened buds look a little pointy, though. A foliage shot would help.

Sure is pretty.

I am planning on taking a pic of the leaves in the morning as others have also asked for this. I also had someone suggest Anapalina which looks good based on flowers (I know this is a different genus now, but can not remember). The leaves have this amazing "fuzz" on their undersides like nothing I have ever seen before.....really weird.....I hope I can get an ID just so I know for the future.....I'll post leaf pics in the morning....thanks :o) Dan

Additionally you might try posting at the link below. Those folks there are really sharp.

Of course we (or I anyway) will want to know what you find out for sure so please let us know.

Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: Name That Plant

Hi All, Well, from another forum we seem to have an ID of Pitcairnia sp. which is a terrestrial member of the Bromeliad family. I think if there were decent pics of the leaves on-line anywhere I could get an ID fairly easy as it most resemble P. carinata, but there is a chance it could be P. grafii or P. nortefluminensis, but this last one seems to have a much smaller influorescence than carinata for example. The oldest leaves are approx. 17" long and 1.25" wide. The individual flowers are 3" long and the influorescence is 19" from where it leaves the leaves to the top of the last flower. If anyone has a sure ID I'd love to hear it!! here are the leaf pics as requested. Thanks :o) Dan
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The closest I got was P. Flammea var. Floccosa. That's from Hortica. To be quite frank I'd never seen/head of such a thing, but that's understandable since it's a tropical and I don't have a greenhouse to encourage my interests in that area. However your post opened my eyes to another beautiful and unique flower and for that I thank you. Hope you remember to tell us what it is for sure. On the quick google I did I couldn't find much in the way of pictures to aid in your attempts at I.D. Do you think any of the botanical gardens (Brooklyn perhaps) could help you?

Well, I have succeeded with it because I can grow it under lights for the winter in zone 6.....otherwise it would have perished by now. I've gotten a lot of help on the Bromeliad forum and I will try to e-mail an expert to get a name....doesn't really matter I suppose, but now I'm interested to track it down. Ugly plant, but pretty flower :o) Dan

Of course it matters. Where would civilization be if we didn't seek out new information(the National Enquirer would be out of business for one). Just let us in on your findings. btw, Do you put it outdoors during the summer? I can see a pot of that stuck behind some taller growing perennials and looking pretty eye catching when it blooms.

Hey, it was free and my wife likes it so I already have 2 pluses on this one even without a name :o) Yes, this one goes outside for the summer. I have it in full sun and it does fine, but now that I made the mistake of reading too much it seems like partial shade is the way to go....that will probably result in its demise. I contacted the expert at Shelby that I was referred to so maybe I'll get an ID. They want an actual plant to provide a definite ID, but I'm not that interested :o) Dan

Hummm....Partial shade in your area should most definitely be partial shade in mine. Can you tell me when it flowered and how long the flowers lasted? I'm thinking that even if it is a tender perennial (Zone???)that it may have garden merit for those of us in hot/humid summer areas where the perennial selection can be somewhat limited. And btw, I don't think the foliage is any less attractive then a daylily and they sell them out the ying yang. I agree with your wife about it being a pretty flower and who knows, maybe it has garden potential.

It is in flower right now and still has many flowers to open yet....the pic was taken the day the thread started. The guy in Brasil that sent the seed tells me they like the cold to induce flowering up in the mountains. I guess you are right about the daylilly comparison....I have 4-5 of those in the yard and the foliage is pretty ugly to look at, but the flowers are pretty when they open. I can not imagine this making for a garden plant in our zones though. In the mountains of Brasil it will never see a freeze and the lowest my friend says it gets to is single digits on the Celcius scale.

All this does make me wonder whether there are other really easy ones to grow, but I've posted to the Bromeliad forum and a couple of other places and these seem to be rarely grown here in the U.S. I did find one other guy growing a few that asked about trade potential so once mine offsets a couple more babies I might be able to expand my collection :o) Dan

I'm the old "made in America" brand so don't know Celcius from Schmelcius. But I'm presuming that like most tender perenials/tropicals, zone 9 at minimum. Well, blooming right now doesn't do me any good for my pot in the garden scheme. Winter is setting in here already. Since this is its first bloom perhaps it will adjust in subsequent years to an earlier blooming period?(still hoping-LOL). I seldom visit the bulb site but really liked the bloom (color/ form), and the upright growth habit on your Pitcairns Scarlet (what I've named it for myself). Congrats on getting it this far btw. Just for curiosities sake I'm still interested in its full latin name if you come across it. I wonder how it will divide? Is it a bulb, rhizome, tuber? I know squat about bromliads, but don't some die after flowering? Enquiring minds want to know.

Well, if you know squat then you and I are in about the same place.....I only know I have grown it successfully to flowering and did not even know what it was!!! It is a rhizome as I recall from when I potted it up finally this spring, but do not quote me on that one either!! No clue about the dieing thing either.....that would be a bummer!!

The 6C means it never freezes......around 40F :o) Dan

I heard from Bruce Holst at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens and this is in fact P. flammea so everyone that guessed that was dead on!!! Thanks again :o) Dan

Hi bluebonsai101,

I found an old discussion where you mentioned some rare Peruvian Hippeastrums. I´m looking for these. Do you by any chance have any offsets or seeds I could buy? Or do you know any sources?

Regards,

Olivier