Spiny Arid Land Bromeliads; Plants with Attitude!

     Flowers tend to be very bright and showy, in fact I have yet to be disappointed in a flower color by any species in this Genus. Most plants are self-fertile, so you can have seed even if you only have one plant.

     Dyckia species are way under-used in cultivation, especially considering how many species there are. They are all interesting and easy to grow, although spiny at times. This characteristic has attracted many succulent-plant hobbyists.      Some plants have irritants on the foliage, which cause dermatitis to sensitive individuals.      There are several hybrids around, many whose parents are completely or partly unknown. The species I have grown have been really easy: they handle neglect, some frost (especially older plants), and a myriad of light conditions (from full sun to shade). The one pain in the butt about these spiny bromeliads is that they tend to be difficult to clean. If some litter gets into them you might want to use some sort of tool to retrieve such. If you are used to growing cacti however this will be nothing new to you. More great genera of the more spiny Bromeliads are Hectia, Abromeitiella, Puya, Deuterochinia, Enchorlirion, Fosterella, and Bromelia. Personally I look for the species with the nastiest of spines and the most difficult to pot and care for. Why? First of all they are tough. They all seem to be very forgiving and can handle all kinds of conditions. Also they demand respect in the garden and greenhouse. When someone walks into your greenhouse and there is a large Bromelia alsodes (spines on the leaves curve in both directions, and plants get 3-4 feet tall and wide) hanging overhead, your visitor's eyes get large and movements become more intentional and respectful. Nothing like a spiny Bromeliad to demand a little lucidy out of a person. Of course there are always those who will get stuck anyway. Somehow they have not learned the ways of spines and I believe in a natural setting these people would have left the gene pool long ago. But so much for natural selection in our time of dominance in this world, however brief.

BROMELIAD LINKS:

Charlie's page on Bromeliads http://www.fix.net/~cdills/

The Bromeliad Ring http://www.angelfire.com/tx/kbrom/index....

Florida Council of Bromeliad Societies http://fcbs.org/index.html

The "Growing Bromeliads" Site http://www.ghgcorp.com/beyer/bromel.htm

Diane's Bromeliads http://www.flash.net/~ladyicon/page4.htm

Bromeliad Society International http://bsi.org

The Families of Flowering Plants L. Watson and M. J. Dallwitz http://muse.bio.cornell.edu/delta/angio/...

The Virtual Bromeliad Society http://www.connix.com/~reingg/contents.h...

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