I may have found the answer myself - imagine that! Could this be Billbergia pyramidalis?

Thanks!
Carol

most assuredly. Easy to grow, can bloom 2xyear not cold hardy (meaning below 28F)

Thank you so much, Greg. The bloom is even bigger today, but not fully open. How long will the bloom last?

Thanks!
Carol

Pyramidalis bloom may last anywhere from 3 to 10 days depending on temperatures. If you live in a hot clime it will be quick. Fortuantely they often bloom in cooler weather.

Yup, you were right. The bloom was beautiful but it came and went in a hurry. But in those few short days, it got lots of ooohs and aaaahs. Should I do anything to remove the spent bloom? Or just leave it alone on the plant? It is now dry and brown.

Boy am I getting hooked on broms!

Thanks so much,
Carol

So far, I've just left the spent bloom on the plant. It is all dried up and pretty bad-looking, but since no one has said to remove it or said how to remove it, I've just left it alone.

Carol

Hi Carol,

If the sight of the dead flower head is worrying you it can be cut off just below the flower head which will leave just a bit of bare stem. In time as this continues to die further it can easily be just pulled out or you can wait until the whole lot dies further and pull it all out. It will easily come away with gently tugging when it is ready, however no harm will come to the plant if it is left on there but I must agree, they do look pretty unsightly.

All the best, Nev.

Thanks, Nev. I've been watching for a sign of pups - none yet - so keeping my fingers crossed. In the meantime, I guess I will leave the whole thing well-enough alone so I don't ruin it. :)

Carol

Hi Carol
Thats the same plant that hooked me. It will spread in no time.
Enjoy

Greg, you were right about it not being too cold-hardy. This past winter, the ultimate low in my yard was 23.5 and we had several 10-hour hard freezes. This bromeliad cluster froze back pretty badly. But it is pupping like mad now. The parents sure look ugly!

Carol

Carol - I know exactly how you feel.

When I first started growing brom's some years back, I had a quite large clump of Bill. pyramidalis as the centre piece in my shade house. Eventually it flowered and I was the proudest man in the street; it was just a beautiful mass of red. Eventually the flowers died as I knew they would, and I thought no more about it.

During winter that year we had a few days with temps near freezing, (unusual for where I live) and a week later I noticed some spotting on the leaves but due to inexperience I took no notice and didn't realise this was cold damage. About three weeks later there were brown and black leaves all over the plant, and it looked so ugly I pulled it out and put it in a disused corner of the garden and forgot all about it.

A couple of months later I notice something which looked light green in the corner of the garden and when I looked more closely, there were numerous pups with beautiful healthy looking light green foliage.

To cut a long story short, these went on to flower that year, and as winter approached and the weather got colder, the same thing happened; more cold damage and more black leaves.

The same thing has happened each year and it always bounces back with abundant new growth which eventually flowers ...... and so the cycle begins again.

My theory is that because the plant gets so stressed from cold damage this triggers the in-built "survival mechanism" which produces abundant pups to ensure it's survival.

The bottom line is, nothing looks more beautiful than this plant when in flower, and nothing looks more ugly if it suffers from severe cold damage. However, the light at the end of the tunnel is that it always bounces back and flowers again.

You say, " it is pupping like mad now", and this is exactly the sort of thing that happened to me. Just give it a little fertiliser to help it along and leave everything as it is until the pups are nearing maturity. Old leaves can gradually be trimmed back to tidy it up, but leave any with green on them attached to the plants until the pups mature as these are still assisting in the manufacture of nourishment for the pups.

All the best, Nev.