Description
This attractive pot plant belongs to the bromeliad family and comes from tropical Central and South America. It is an epiphyte – in the wild it grows on trees.
Vriesea forms a rosette from the centre of which grows a brightly coloured flower stem made of tightly arranged bracts, resembling an ear of grain. Small yellow flowers appear between them. The leaves are stiff, dark green with brown cross-bands and smooth edges. The mother plant dies after flowering, but first produces several small offsets.
Requirements
Vriesea grows well in a bright, sunny position, but the light should be diffused – then the leaves and flowers are more intensely coloured. The optimum temperature is 20–25°C in summer and 18–20°C in winter.
Propagation
Vriesea is easiest to propagate from offsets of the mother plant. Separate them in spring or summer, but only when they reach half the size of an adult plant. The young offsets must have their own roots. Plant them in pots with light, free-draining peat compost mixed with sand; drainage is essential. Keep the young plants in shade for 2 days, then move them somewhere brighter, and for 3 weeks keep them at 24°C with high air humidity. Repot again the following spring.
Care
Water with soft, ideally boiled, lukewarm water – 3 times a week in summer and 1–2 times a week in winter – so that the compost is always slightly moist. Also pour water into the centre of the rosette to a depth of 2–3 cm and change it every 3 weeks. Do not pour water into the rosette while the flower spike is growing from it, as it will rot, or when the temperature is below 18°C. Feed vriesea every 2 weeks with half the recommended dose while the leaves and flower spike are growing. It is good to stand the pot on a saucer filled with pebbles or moist peat and to mist the plant often.
Before you buy
It is best to buy the plant when the flower spike is just starting to emerge from the rosette and is not yet coloured. If you buy a plant already in flower, it will not delight you for long, as it will soon dry up.