A few nights ago I attended a Bromeliad auction. What an amazing array of interesting, unusual plants.
Small representation of what was available! Wow!
There were so many South American species I’d never seen before, but this one REALLY stood out:
Billbergia amoena SU262
B. amoena SU262 is a larger hybrid of the endemic Brazilian species B. amoena. At maturity, SU262 measures 20″ tall x 18″ wide, producing an erect showy inflorescence with rose colored bracts. The bracts in the photo are a few weeks away from revealing blue tipped green flowers similar to those in the photo below:
Typical Billbergia Bloom
A unique feature of the pendulous billbergia inflorescence is the way the bracts create an umbrella to cover the flowers’ stamens/pistils. This protective mechanism prevents pollen from being washed or blown away before insects can spread it to other flowers.
Billbergia amoena is surprisingly hardy in the landscape, able to withstand temperatures between 26-28F with minimal damage. In Zones 9+ planting in full sun is ill-advised due to potential leaf burn. Morning or dappled sun works best.
Another interesting fact: Billbergias are equally at home mounted in trees or planted terrestrially (or in pots!), but good air circulation is key in all 3 environments. When the inflorescence is nearly spent, pups form around the base of the “mother’ plant eventually forming large, clumping colonies.
Before I close, a few other photos from the auction:
Aechmea farinosa conglomerata
Aechmea kertesziae
Neoregelia “Carnival de Rio”
Until next time…
🙂 🙂 🙂
Related articles
- Wildflowers of the Rainforest (havehest.wordpress.com)
- Weekly Photo Challenge: Color (smallhousebiggarden.wordpress.com
15 thoughts on “Bromeliad Auction and Billbergia Amoena”
Comments are closed.
small house/BIG GARDEN 
How many did you buy?
Only one…people bid everything up so dang high!!!! I will post my purchase for “Floral Friday!”
You do get to see some wonderful plants!
Most were from Brazil but some were from Costa Rica….Real interesting specimens!
Beautiful, Karen!
Thank you, Cindy! 🙂
Great pics !
I dropped my Samsung gs3 and shattered the outward facing camera lens: so mad at myself!! These are the first photos I took with my new little sony cybershot set to automatic.. I’m totally camera phobic–fiddling with settings puts me in a panic!!
I do love those little Sony cameras…. I have one myself.
They can get very complicated, but the auto setting works surprisingly well for me !!! 🙂
For this New England cottage gardener, you were speaking Greek. LOL Gorgeous plants and I’ve never heard of a plant auction. Love it. 🙂
just love them all, have several these. aren’t they so very lovely
The Bilbergia looks pretty amazing. I love the stripes of yellow, red and purple on the buds.
These look beautiful Amy. I have never heard of a plant auction, but it’s a great idea.
Thank you!