This bromeliad has been sitting on my office window for almost 2 years. There are 2 plants in the pot. I bought it when about to flower. The narrow green leaves grow in a rosette with bright pink bracts densely overlapping, where the violet-blue flowers emerge. The bright colors stayed for a few weeks. The pink bracts are still there many more days after the flowers die. It only receives morning sun seeping through the closed glass window, plus water which i put directly to the apex.
Later on i cut the drying mother plants leaving 2 growing plantlets calle pups. It's been almost 2 years now and the pink bracts are not arriving just yet. I am getting impatient, so tried to learn from literatures, which i hadn't thought of earlier on. Just watering them seems to be fine. It says this is the only Tillandsia known to be grown in a pot, and really takes 2-3 years to bloom.
Maybe i have not been treating it rightly. Since it is from the forest of Ecuador it has to receive moisture just enough directly through the leaves, and not direct to the roots. Whew, at least it did not die of drowning. Further, it has to be fed once a month with foliar fertilizer, but i dont have it. So starting from now, i dilute complete fertilizer (15-15-30) and sprayed it. Now i am at peace, maybe 6 more months and my waiting will be over.
Tillandsia cyanea 'Pink Quill'
I would also like to enter this for Blooming Friday hosted by Katarina of Roses and Stuff. Thank you very much Katarina, as there are now a few souls who visit my posts. I hope i have given you some vivid colors of the tropics, which can warm you a little during these cold months.
You definitely tryied hard to make it bloom. I never saw Tillandsia in our country yet. It is so cute flower. Plant care link was very useful.
ReplyDeleteCongrats Andrea! Good job. The bloom is lovely. Both bracts and flower are nice. I hope the pups grow faster than the mother pup and flower within two years also :-D
ReplyDeleteIt's a beautiful plant! The combination of the colours is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteYou have done such a good job! I have few bromeliad in my garden haven't seen any flowers yet. That is a beautiful flower and I love the colour.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the visit
Hi Andrea
ReplyDeleteThe pink bracks are pretty. I thought those were the flowers, didn't know about the violet-blue flowers :).
Good luck with yours - you are very patient :)
Wow..gorgeous! Some things are definately worth the wait!! How special..what a lovely gift to finally recieve!! Enjoy your lovely blooms!
ReplyDeleteKIki
I have never seen such a flower or plant before. I think the violet and shoking pink combination is very striking and very unique indeed. Good luck in your adventurous journey of discovery with this plant.
ReplyDeleteNow that you are on the right track, I bet you will see blooms! She sure is a beauty...
ReplyDeleteBromeliads are so unusual and so beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI am so grateful and happy today, as my post received at least 9 comments before i opened it again. I am also glad that i've introduced something different to many of you who visited, as ff:
ReplyDeleteMuhammad khabab
Stephanie
Lesley
Eden
Evelyn Howard
Kiki
Autumn Belle
Skeeter
Noelle
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
What a lovely Valentines gift for you! Congratulations Andrea! Some blooms are worth the wait! Thank you for your sweet comment! ;>) Carol
ReplyDeleteoh my god that thing is beautiful!!!
ReplyDeleteAndrea, I enjoy your posts so much--they take me back to my time in Florida. The trees there were full of bromeliads and orchids lived outdoors in the trees. You make me remember the vivid colors and the feel of warm moist air. Thanks for sharing your world.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the visit! You sure have alots of pretty summer-flowers at your place- thanks for sharing! Love and do have a great Valentine-day!//Eva
ReplyDeleteWow Andrea, what a fantastic flower!
ReplyDeleteThe colors are amazing. Here, in Brazil, we have a lot of beautiful flowers too.
Very nice blog and photos.
Lúcia
www.fazemosdeconta.com
Exciting Andrea you have to keeps us up to date what is happening, will it bloom or not.
ReplyDeleteThe flowers are lovely - very exotic to me. Purple and pink go so well together.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting on my BF post. Have a good weekend.
The tillandsia flower is very dramatic. My bromeliads have also started flowering now.
ReplyDeleteIt's so pretty! I've never seen a bloom like that, the little purple flower is so sweet.
ReplyDeleteHi Andrea, your tillsandia looks happy. And so beautiful. I bought one at a horticultural show last year but it didn't survive. Too much water I think. Next time I buy one, I'll be careful about not watering directly at the root.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this! And have a lovely weekend!
I love the tillandsia's but the purple flowers don't last very long and the pink spath fades if its in too much sunlight.
ReplyDeleteNow reference your pups do you think if you pretended they were bromeliads and kept them in a sealed bag in the dark for 2/3 days with a kwiwi fruit and a banana in the bag with them that it would induce them to flower due to the ethyelene gas build up inside the bag - I know for sure it works with bromeliads ...... just a thought
Hi Andrea, please come to my blog again and use the google translator.
ReplyDeleteI was in Athenas and Istanbul in 2008 and I bought wonderful things in Grand Bazar, including some "greek eyes". They have the same meaning here, to bring us good luck and good things and keep away the bad ones.
Bye my dear,
Lúcia
www.fazemosdeconta.com
I was once gifted one of these and promptly proceeded to kill it. I love love love that color.It is my fave. I am so happy for you!
ReplyDeleteMaybe I will try again.
aloha andrea,
ReplyDeletei love those tillandsia's they grow so well here in hawaii also...i don't even bother taking care of them...i also love how they pup so easily..thanks for sharing the post and happy valentines day
Andrea, what beautiful photos! The pink bracts are lovely, but when the flowers bloom-gorgeous. Mother nature sure knows how to combine colors. :)
ReplyDeleteI love the way the flowers seem to creap out of the bracts - lovely!
ReplyDeleteHappy Blooming Friday!
Andrea,
ReplyDeleteYour efforts with your bromeliad are truly inspiring! It was definitely worth the wait for all of us.
Hi Andrea, thanks for visiting my blog and for your comment, and for the link on exotic plants in temperate climates. I'm planning a blog post on some new exotic plants on offer from my favorite seed mail order place, and would love to hear your opinion. I'll let you know when I finally get it up. Your own blog is lovely, I'll be reading it! Barbara
ReplyDeleteWell, thank you again everyone, you certainly made my postvalentine day still like Valentine's. I have to reply to your individual comments on your own sites, so you will see them faster. Again Thank you so much for the wonderful friendship, kind words or questions, and of course the promise to visit again. I now feel that my posts were not put into naught.
ReplyDeletePostcript: I like leavesnbloom's question here. Putting some ethylene producers in a bag with Tillandsia might be a good idea to tinker with. I remember adding some comments on this too when Autumn Belle popped it up with her pineapple. I suggested chico or Achras sapota coz it gives lots of ethylene.
ReplyDeleteI certainly would love to try that but i'm afraid i might put a lot of C2H4 (ethylene) which might kill my tillandsia too. If only i have a lot of them to play with (aka to research on), i will do that, but i have to know first how much these producers do because i dont want to risk with my only tillandsia which i have been caring for >2 yrs. I love your idea Leavesnbloom, let us suggest it to those with lots to work on.
Its the first time I have seen something so beautiful....in Pink quill. Thx for introducing the plant Andrea n for stopping by my blog. Cheers! Radhika
ReplyDeleteHi Andrea - thank you v. much for visitng my design blog - my other is at http://jardinmiranda.blogspot.com if you want to follow what goes on in our garden and in others I've visited!
ReplyDeleteI love the colours of your plant that you have in your posting - beautiful and much brighter than anything out in France at the moment as it is still v. cold. Look forward to visiting again - Miranda