Here's a grex with some wild extremes! The following 2 plants share Vriesea 'Elfi Natascha' as seed parent, and Vr. bleherae as the pollen parent. First to bloom was this one- in Septmeber 2010. It clearly favors the pollen parent in every respect, though it is significantly larger than Vr. bleherae.

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...here is a side view displaying discolor foliage and generous production of pups.

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The second to bloom started fully one year later. There is significant evidence of the pollen parent in the foliage- the narrow leaves and strongly discolor foliage have always made it an attractive plant. The inflorescence is heavily influenced by the seed parent- the "cranes neck" kink at the base of the inflorescence is evidence of its influence. The amount of branching, intensity of of bract color, and the length of time that the inflorescence has maintained its beauty- all influences of V. 'Poelmanii'- have been an unexpected surprise! Our local (Southeast Michigan) Bromeliad society members have all been very approving of the results of this one. Photos from 11-26-11

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...again, a side view displaying the strongly discolor leaves.

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I'm still waiting for my favorite foliage selection from the grex to start blooming. It's the largest of the grex. It blends the discolor foliage of the V. bleherae with nicely recurving foliage of V. fenestralis. For scale, it is growing in a 5" pot.

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Paul