1 hour ago, Gonzer said:

flowering 1-2 m high; stem well developed, erect, stout.

No evidence of tall flowers, past or present, on any of the Chert Rock plants. No visible stalks at all, actually. Not even an old dessicated one, and this is not a highly managed area. 

On 3/26/2023 at 7:48 AM, Rivera said:

I don't know what it is, but there's a thicket of it in Golden Gate Heights Park, formerly Chert Rock Park, in San Francisco.

I don't think I have any photos, but I have something that looks like this that has been in the ground for between 1 and 1.5 decades without flowering.  The barbs are innocent compared to any of the Puya I'm growing.  I got it at Walter Anderson's and mine came from Walter Jr.s personal collection of plants.  His had never flowered either as I recall.  I'll have to get a photo to compare.

I've had two different forms of Puya alpestris flower... its a special and infrequent event.  I posted a separate thread on the one form that bloomed last summer:

https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/74913-puya-bloom-after-12-years-in-the-ground/#comment-1074448

 

1 hour ago, Tracy said:

I don't think I have any photos, but I have something that looks like this that has been in the ground for between 1 and 1.5 decades without flowering.  The barbs are innocent compared to any of the Puya I'm growing.  I got it at Walter Anderson's and mine came from Walter Jr.s personal collection of plants.  His had never flowered either as I recall.  I'll have to get a photo to compare.

I've had two different forms of Puya alpestris flower... its a special and infrequent event.  I posted a separate thread on the one form that bloomed last summer:

https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/74913-puya-bloom-after-12-years-in-the-ground/#comment-1074448

 

Nice!

I think I first stumbled onto this colony a few years ago and have wondered what they are ever since.

A slightly "octopusy" Neoregelia Roseo Striata

Here is a look at Tillandsia Ionantha 'Druid' in flower now.

A unique Ionantha with albino flowers and leaves blush yellow at flowering.

Major plant envy in this thread lol.  I love broms, some of my favorite plants, they're living problem area solvers.

Here's a few of mine, just south of Jax FL

Growing epiphytically:

Dwarf crape myrtle over AC by window, north side, epiphytes love the addtional humidity of this spot

Tillandsia tenuifolia 'Amethyst' is one of my favorites the color is quite nice. I want to get a second one to test hardiness

I think this is T. x floridiana, I have some fasiculata and bartrami and this seems between the two in size.

T. fuchsii var. gracilis on Pineapple guava by porch, another favorite. Tiny but I find the shape so charming. this one survived 25F

 

Growing terrestrially:

I had 0 idea if Puya could be grown in my climate but  I acquired a Puya venusata and  Puya alpestris from a South FL grower last August and they've been doing fine. I up-potted them to 1 gallons yesterday.

 

Under my Red maple has the worst and most bizarre root competition of any area in the garden, gave drought stress to aloe yet the St. Augustine grass does fine.  At foot of tree I started with NOID shorter dyckia clumps from work and those have been doing great so I'm adding some other brom species such as this Billbergia 'Beadleman'

 

Exposed north side of old Sabal palmetto clump, another stupidly difficult spot. only thing I've gotten to thrive there is Pinebarren goldenrod (if anyone knows of white-flowered native groundcovers that can handle this site I'd be quite interested). I think the two in the front might me Neomea 'Strawberry'

 

 

Edited April 15, 20233 yr by Calosphace

Nidularium innocentii  then  Vriesea Sherlette Shiigi1

Neorgelia 'Gizmo' in flower mode and throwing a pup.

Dyckia rariflora in all its tall glory..  4 stalks up, 3 more forming..  Hard to judge in the 1st picture, but taller stalks are close to 3ft taller than where they emerge from the plants.

Portea petropolitana var. Extensa 

A close look at the flower bract...

 

 

Nothing special ...Just a new AZ iNat observation record of Ball Moss, Tillandsia recurvata.

May  be the furthest north naturally occurring / currently documented / observed specimen in the Western U.S.  Location Tag honestly should read Redington vs. Wilcox since the observation location is closest to Redington, AZ.

iNat Observation:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/185941631


Screenshot-ed picture of where Ball Moss occurs here, in relation to Phoenix and San Diego..  Now to find some of the other " Sonoran " Tillandsia sps growing north of the " border "..

On 4/21/2023 at 2:03 AM, edbrown_III said:

Nidularium innocentii  then  Vriesea Sherlette Shiigi1

Is that Vri. hardy here?  Nidularium innocentii is, one of my favorites

Hectic glauca.  This was planted several years ago and has produced what appears to be pups with very different narrow leaves.  The pups didn't appear for a few years after planting it.  I have had pups produce flowers but never this main large and original plant.  It once was in partial sun but is now in deep shade.

I don't recall this having a name when I received the plant as a houseplant gift originally.   A nice pink 💗 

On 8/23/2025 at 2:02 AM, Tracy said:

I don't recall this having a name when I received the plant as a houseplant gift originally.   A nice pink 💗 

Aechmea fasciata. A very beautiful bromeliad and relatively common in the houseplant trade.