Puya berteroniana

[Holland]

Hello

 

I have a question.

I hope someone can help me.

I have a big plant from the Puya berteronbiana in pot.  The plantis10 years old, but it have not flowering yet.

Is the plant still too young?

Or do I something rong.

I am living in the Netherlands., In winter I put the big plant in a cool greenhouse, from november till half April. From April till november  in my garden. 

in the morning in partial shade until 11 a.m. Then in the sun until 6 p.m.

Who can advise me on how to get this Puya to bloom?

 

Thank you very much for  your help.

[Silas_Sancona]

13 hours ago, Holland said:

Hello

 

I have a question.

I hope someone can help me.

I have a big plant from the Puya berteronbiana in pot.  The plantis10 years old, but it have not flowering yet.

Is the plant still too young?

Or do I something rong.

I am living in the Netherlands., In winter I put the big plant in a cool greenhouse, from november till half April. From April till november  in my garden. 

in the morning in partial shade until 11 a.m. Then in the sun until 6 p.m.

Who can advise me on how to get this Puya to bloom?

 

Thank you very much for  your help.

Any pictures of it?.

Could be too young. If you do an internet search on Puya, esp specimens grown in say the Huntington Botanical Garden's collection, these get BIG ( 1 plant would fill part of my yard, lol )

Believe @Tracy is growing a few and has had some that took their time to start flowering / aren't always consistent bloomers..

Sometimes plants are just like that ..On their own schedule, rather than a schedule humans might have.

[Tracy]

12 hours ago, Holland said:

Hello

 

I have a question.

I hope someone can help me.

I have a big plant from the Puya berteronbiana in pot.  The plantis10 years old, but it have not flowering yet.

Is the plant still too young?

Or do I something rong.

I am living in the Netherlands., In winter I put the big plant in a cool greenhouse, from november till half April. From April till november  in my garden. 

in the morning in partial shade until 11 a.m. Then in the sun until 6 p.m.

Who can advise me on how to get this Puya to bloom?

 

Thank you very much for  your help.

You have the million dollar or euro question, how long does it take for some Puya species to bloom.  So if you got your plant a decade ago, that was about the time the name for Puya berteroniana was being revised to Puya alpestris ssp zoellernei.  I have grown several Puya species including this one for about 14 years.  As Nathan pointed out, these do get to be large plants, larger than the regular form of Puya alpestris.  My in ground specimen of Puya alpestris bloomed after about 3 years.  The colony was getting out of control in size, so I removed it saving a couple of plants to keep in pots.  The potted specimens haven't bloomed in the last 11 years. 

Meanwhile, my Puya alpestris ssp zoellernei planted in late 2010, didn't bloom until autumn of 2022, so 12 years after going in the ground.  It has not bloomed since.  I've shared a couple of photos below so you can get a sense of the size of both the plant and the inflorescence.  It is large.  A smaller and more consistent blooming Puya species you may want to try is Puya mirabilis, although the flowers are not as spectacular (yellow and much more sparse).  Share a photo of your plant and I wish you success in getting it to bloom!  Know that you aren't alone in waiting.

Here is some information from the Huntington Gardens in San Marino (near Pasadena, California) on this species which can be found here :  https://media.huntington.org/ISI/ISI2010/2010-26.html

 

ISI 2010-26. Puya berteroniana = Puya alpestris subsp. zoellneri Zizka, J.V.Schneid. & Novoa Out of Stock

One of the standout attractions at the Huntington each April is the flowering of Puya alpestris with its otherworldly, metallic blue-green flowers. The lesser-known runner-up in March is P. berteroniana. Considered by some to be merely a color variant of P. alpestris, P. berteroniana has emerald-green flowers. It also seems to be a more imposing plant with rosettes to 6' across and flower stalks to 8' or more tall. The structure of these stalks is the same, with sterile peduncle branches forming convenient perches for bird pollinators drawn by copious sweet nectar in the flowers which have an odd rancid-butter aroma about them. The plants perform equally well in full sun at the bottom of the Huntington’s Desert Garden, where a few winter frosts in the 20s°F are the norm, as it does in the part shade under the canopy of Aloe barberae trees in the upper garden. HBG 97074, seedlings of HBG 21084, plants collected Dec 8, 1966, by H.A. Mooney (SA # 11) in the Quebrada de la Plata, Chile. Limited, one per customer, $15.

Correction, published in the Cactus and Succulent Journal Vol. 86 (2), March - April, 2014

Zizka et al. have clarified the application of this name in a recent revision of Chilean puyas in Brittonia (July 9, 2013, online). The name P. berteroniana applies to a very rare natural hybrid of P. alpestris with a species of the P. coerulea group so should properly be P. ×berteroniana. The authors also clarify the spelling used here rather than the sometimes seen P. berteroana. What has been widely grown as P. berteroniana represents a northerly variant of P. alpestris described in this paper as P. alpestris subsp. zoellneri so this is the appropriate name for ISI 2010-26.