Here is my Queen's Tears:

Hi everyone.

Phreckless – It’s a bit hard to say for sure if that’s
Billbergia “Queen’s Tears” (Billbergia nutans) by just looking at the foliage
as this plant varies greatly depending on the cultural conditions, e.g. I have
seen shade grown plants where the leaves were not much wider than a blade of
grass and compared to the leaves of your plant, (which appear to have been
grown in strong light)look totally different.

Billbergia nutans is a very vigorous species which has
been grown in numerous gardens all over the world for many years. I know of
places here in Australia where there were once farm houses and their
accompanying gardens which have long since gone, but the Billbergia nutans
still remains, often in huge clumps covering very large areas.

It is a vigorous grower and a plant that could be claimed
to be “bullet proof” e.g. I once saw a large clump growing in the garden of an
old deserted farm house; the fence had fallen down and cows had trodden the
plants almost flat, however the following year after the fence was repaired, numerous
new pups re-appeared from what had seemed to be a completely destroyed plant,
and to this day it continues to multiply and flower.

It is also a popular parent plant in breeding programs
with no less than fifty four registered hybrids to its credit. See: http://registry.bsi.org/?fields=Parents&id=9383&search=nutans

It is an easy plant to grow and therefore a good
beginner’s plant and is equally at home in the garden, in a pot or even mounted
on a tree.

It is easily identified by its beautiful unmistakable
flowers which have beautiful green petals edged with royal blue and supported
by contrasting lollipop pink bracts. Unfortunately, like most Billbergia plants,
these flowers are short lived.

All the best, Nev.

Billbergia nutans (Queen's Tears) flowers