I spent the weekend with my sister and she sent a plant from her yard back with me to a co-worker of mine she likes. She told me the name but I forgot it before I was back home. It is something like “bodilibria” or “bodendrium” or… well, there’s a bo in it and it’s not a rhododendrum (sp?).
It’s tropical, has very thick waxy leaves that look kind of a like the leaves of a pineapple (they point upwards and have a hollow tunnel in the middle for a “throat”) and the leaves are red-tipped. It grows in hot humid climates if that helps. It’s like a smaller and prettier version of a Century Plant and is probably a relative.
My co-worker has asked me what it is so we can look up care instructions (and my sister’s now out of town).
This isn’t too much of a hijack, I hope. I always wanted to post about these spectacular bromeliads we saw in Kaua’i. Folks there planted them in their front yards and they were eye-stopping. This thread reminded me to finally Google about them, and I think I’ve found the variety I saw everywhere.
One gardener had planted a row of large ones in her front yard, and the effect was a wall of glowing coppery-orange. It was gorgeous.
The Google search which gave me this image shows that there exists a buttload of bromeliad varieties, the extent of which I never even suspected until today. Aren’t they a cool plant?
According to my googling for care instructions they’re pretty low maintenance as well. They need very little soil.
This particular one is of a variety that will flower once in its lifetime (I supposed during reproduction) but never again. It has lots of babies though.
My very favorite houseplant. They don’t do well in the extreme northern US (not for me, anyway), so I had to give all 18 to a green-thumbish neighbor when we left Vegas. I especially like the flat purple spires that bloom hot-pinks blossoms. Hubby calls them my Alien flowers.
They dislike hard water, direct sun, and intensely dislike salt-softened water. Otherwise, keep 'em warm, reasonably moist, in indirect light, and they’re good.
Some varieties bloom more than once, and most (perhaps not all?) really like when the soil isn’t soggy, but water fills the “throats.” Easier to do with a houseplant than outdoors.
Until Sampiro’s sister gets back with specific directions for this variety, his coworker should not let the plant get bone dry, and keep it out of direct sun. They take while to die, and recover from “abuse” well.
I especially like the flat purple spires that bloom hot-pinks blossoms. Hubby calls them my Alien flowers.
