P.S. to the above.. I am in Australia, at the moment we are into our first month of summer. My Bromiliad is quite a beautiful site as it is, the colour on the leaves is granny apple green.

Hello Junek, there are many bromeliads with the same physical appearance that you describe. It could be Aechmea gamosepala 'Lucky Stripe' and I only say this because it is commonly sold here in Australia, at retail nurseries and markets. If you google the name, you should be able to get some images of it in bloom. Just be patient and see what develops. If it has pups, and looks healthy, it should do fine.
BA

Hello brom adora, Thanks for your reply, I did have a lookee and did find it, you are right it is 'Lucky Stripe' however the photo did not show a bloom. I shall just have to wait and see, in the meantime it is indeed quite an attractive plant.
I am on the Mid-South Coast of NSW.
I like the term PUPS!!.
JK

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Hi JK. This is an Aechmea gamosepala in bloom, which is what you can expect from A. 'Lucky Stripes' I think flowering is in winter, around July, or at least in my area.
'Pup' is the common term used to refer to the offsets formed at the base of most bromeliads. Leave them to grow and form a good clump, which is a beautiful thing to behold when in flower!
BA

Hi junek,

I also grow Ae. Gamosepala and I also live on the south coast of NSW at Shellharbour, where abouts are you?

Ae. Gamosepala is probably one of the most popular plants for brom growers to start their collections with because it is easy to grow and Lucky Stripes is a variegated form of this same plant and has similar flowers.

The plain green form and the Lucky Stripes are both also very easy to grow in the garden without any special care, although the plain green form can become a bit invasive if allowed to do so.

I have difficulty throwing away excess plants of anything, so when my plain green gamosepala got to the stage where it needed dividing, I planted the excess along the front of some benches built off my southern fence. They quickly spread and took over the whole area and now every year without fail they produce a colourful scene to an otherwise boring area.

The flowers are long lasting unless the honey eaters get to them and pollinate them in which case the quickly close up. However the developing seed capsules remain for months and still give a bit of colour.

Brom Adorer's pic shows the colour of the flowers well and the pic I show below shows the plant when the flowers are long gone with just the remains of a couple of spikes of seed capsules still developing.

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All the best, Nev.

brom adora,
thanks for the pictures of the blooms, really beautiful. I think it will bloom in winter as I did have another Bromeliad and it bloomed then. Unfortunatlely I had to dispose of it as it had very spikey leaves and weeds had taken over, it was impossible to seperate, it did a very delicate flower, on a long stem I think it may have been called Cleopatras Tears??. I do have a small pot with some puppies in it of this one,I shall make sure that the weeds stay away from it.

Hi splinter,
Thanks for your picture, really beautiful show, something to look forward to.
I live on the coast Dalmeny/Narooma NSW,I am am really a balcony gardener, great morning sun. Great idea about planting out in the garden when they get too big for their pots.

Junek

Ahhh, Nev, you've just answered my unasked question about why my A. gamosepala flowers were so short lived this year! Last year I had masses of flowers that looked great for about a month. this year, I was lucky to get a week from each spike. There are heaps of blue faced honey eaters and noisy miner birds, so i guess they have discovered another food source! I never knew gamosepala got invasive, but that could be because I have them planted in HUGE beds where they can go as mad as they like. Each clump gets around 8-10 spikes, and there would be around 20 clumps. Sometimes I pull the middle plants out and pop a pot with a more vibrant brom in there, just for display.
June, I love them all, even the spikey ones! Try a pair of toe socks (with tips cut out of each toe) as gloves. This protects your arms while working. Broms bloom at all different times of the year, depending on type and conditions. I think you could be another addict in the making! he he. Stick around
BA

brom adora,Looking at photos on the net I think that I have another Bromiliad!! it looks a little like a venus fly trap, of course not, the only description that I have from the site is "Fleshy detail Bromiliad" it also has a little yellow flower. Oh what a lot of varieties!!
The other one that I have is a Billbergia, Queens Tears.
i think that as you say "an addict in the making". I shall stick around.

Junek