Queen's Tears Bromeliad

May 2009

My Queen's Tears Bromeliad (Billbergia nutans) surprised me back in January when it started growing a flower stalk.  These plants have always surprised me - ever since I got my first one at a plant swap at least five years ago.  I see them at almost every plant swap now, so I'll bet that everyone that attends them regularly has one.

First, a little about bromeliads:  They are native to South America.  They are epiphytes, or "air plants", which means they have very few roots - they get most of their nutrients and water from the air.  Some have suggested that they are slightly carnivorous, obtaining nutrients from insects that fall into their water-filled cups.

August 2010

More traditional varieties of bromeliads are sold in garden centers, usually a single rosette already in bloom in a decorative pot.  Their blooms tend to be long-lasting and people will get rid of them when the blooms die.  Bromeliads will bloom only once per rosette, so it is important to encourage the growth of additional rosettes.  

They seem like very tropical plants, but many do well here in coastal SC given the right conditions.  The first few years I had them, they went completely neglected, even to the point of letting them stay outside during our coldest nights.  Despite this they survived and bloomed most years.  I have since planted them in our shade garden, which gets a little morning and afternoon sun, and shade the rest of the day.  Some people recommend anywhere from almost full sun to almost full shade.  My experience is that mine could use a little more sun - he flower stalk seemed a little too elongated, like it was stretching for the light.

March 2011

Being epiphytic, they can live almost anywhere - growing on the side of a tree or planted in the ground.  They have few roots, just enough to anchor them, and they get their moisture and nutrients from the air like the name suggests.  They like humidity and, when it rains, their cups fill with water.  If yours is in a pot, you will need to fertilize - everywhere I looked recommended a diluted, balanced, liquid fertilizer, but few mentioned foliar feeding.  This may be preferable since bromeliads are epiphytes.

January 2013

My Queen's Tears bromeliad has bloomed at such random times of the year, that I had to look up their bloom time - any time of the year - that's what one site said, but I suspect it's usually spring through fall.  I find this interesting - there are ways to force your bromeliad to bloom.  One way is to add a little Epsom salt (Magnesium sulfate) to their water.  The other way is probably better known, especially with other plants - place an apple next to the plant and cover both of them with a plastic bag.  Leave them together for a week or more - the bromeliad should bloom within the next 1-2 months.

January 2013

As you can see from the photos, my bromeliad has bloomed almost every season throughout the years.  I think it didn't bloom in 2012, because that's when I transplanted it into its current home, our shade garden under a giant live oak.  But obviously it must like being there if it resumed blooming the next year.  I hope this has given you some information about this plant, and I hope everyone will look for it at the next plant swap - I have no doubt that someone will bring one.  For more information about the swap, click here.  Thanks for reading!

Spring Has Sprung

I was walking around the yard the other day and was surprised at how many things had started growing again.  We've had a lot of consistently warm weather this spring - I was expecting it to get cold again or one last freeze, but it looks like it's here to stay.

Queen's Tears Bromeliad

We had our second bad winter in a row, and it looked like it killed a lot of things - but that doesn't always seem to be the case now that it's warmed up.  The most obvious mistake I made when posting obituaries for my plants was including the Queen's Tears bromeliad.  As awful as it looks, I noticed the other day that it starting to bloom.  This plant has always had odd behavior - the last couple of years it has bloomed very late in the year, so the fact that it's blooming now (which I think is the right time) is odd too.  I remember thinking that my bromeliads died last year too, but I was wrong again.

Knockout Rose

Whenever there are free plants posted on craigslist, if it's something I might want, I do my best to get it, even if I don't know what my plans are for it yet.  Last fall someone was giving away knockout roses.  I spent part of my Friday evening fighting traffic, digging them up from their yard and getting them home.  I kept them in pots over the winter and kept them sheltered some.  I was a little concerned they might not make it through the winter, but they did and they're starting to bloom.  Now we have to decide where we're going to put them in the yard.

Since my bog experiment failed in the fall, I've had my carnivorous plants in pots, sitting in a container of water.  The pitcher plants look bad, but I thought they would be ok.  I also got some Venus flytraps and sundews in a strange internet trade - I repotted those and put them in a little water and when winter came, I put them in a sheltered place.  The flytraps stayed green through the cold, but the sundews appear to have died.  I got a close look at them the other day and the flytraps are flourishing - and the sundews appear to be making a comeback.  That's a good thing to know.  I plan to create a permanent bog garden, hopefully by the end of the summer, and I'll add these plants to it.

Winter 2011 Casulaties

I thought I would take a minute to remember those that were lost in the Winter of 2011.

Queen's Tears Bromeliad
I got this, probably from Darren, a couple of years ago.  This photo is from August, but it also bloomed the year before.  I neglected it the winter before, but when I saw this bloom when my sister-in-law was here, I thought it must be fine where it was - I was even planning to put them in our future shade garden.  I haven't inspected my bromeliads (yes, I have/had more), but from what I can tell, they all look dead.

Helianthocereus Trichocereus grandiflorus
I "rescued" this cactus from Lowe's about three years ago.  I was languishing on the clearance shelf in a pot only a tiny bit larger around than itself.  Along with four others,  I potted them together, a small cactus garden, but after a year or so, they seemed crowded and this one seemed to be rotting.  I thought repotting it would help, increasing airflow around it and keeping it dry, but that didn't help.  I had to let it go.

Pachycereus pringlei (left)
Mammillaria pilcayensis (right)
Another rescued cactus, it just couldn't take the cold.  Last winter they were all potted together, and up against the house.

Since then, I had repotted them and moved them a little farther into the yard.  The cold came early this year and I really didn't believe it would last as long as it did.  Unfortunately, I was wrong.

Gymnocalycium mihanovichii var. hibotan
 This is sort of a strange plant - a Frankenplant, if you will.  In this case it is a red ball cactus (Gymnocalcium) grafted onto Hylocereus undatus, a Dragon Fruit plant.  It was never my favorite and after I learned more about it from Darren, I put it aside to give to him, but it died from the cold.  The read Darren's post on Dragon Fruit, click here.

Euphorbia trigona

We got this at a plant swap two or three years ago.  There are usually a couple of mature potted plants that someone will bring that they just don't want anymore.  At this swap, this was one of them.  I think Robin grabbed it, and it spent the next few years on our front porch.  I would bring it in a handful of times between Xmas and Easter, but it was usually fine on the porch.  The sun would heat up the concrete during the day and that would keep the temperature warm enough at night, usually.  That would not happen this winter.  Extreme cold and neglect doomed this plant - and a smaller one like it.  I'll probably get another one when the opportunity arises, like the next plant swap.  I think they're interesting and if I start small, I'll appreciate it more when it gets this big.

Aloe Vera
Another front porch plant that didn't get brought in when it got too cold.  I'm not too upset about this one.  I've divided a number of times and given some away or taken to plants swaps - I know I can get more at the next one in the spring.  Actually, I'm not convinced it's completely dead.  I have a feeling that some of the "leaves" are alive in the center of the plant.  I'll wait until spring and find out.

Euphorbia tirucalli "Fire Sticks"
I got this plant as many smaller plants on sale at Lowe's a few years ago.  I potted them together to make a larger plant, and I subsequently divided it several times to give away as gifts.  It was another front porch plant that lived through last winter with minimal attention.  Maybe I shouldn't have so many tender plants - with the weather becoming so crazy these past couple of years.

Pinguicula
You've heard this story before - I got this butterwort plant on clearance from Lowe's - in this case, 48 cents to be exact.  I really didn't have any expectations - I thought I would put in the bog with the other carnivorous plants and hope it liked being there.  And it did.  It thrived until the demise of the bog.  Once that started leaking I had to cut it off from the pond, or risk drying up the pond.  It was only a matter of time before I had to do something with all of the plants.  I repotted the other carnivorous plants and moved them to a temporary home, but the butterwort didn't like the transplant and it got neglected and dried out over the summer.

Stapelia gigante
Last, but not least, is my corpse flower cactus.  I got it from a plant swap several years ago, and it finally bloomed this year.  The flower is supposed to smell like rotting flesh, but I didn't really smell it - maybe I had a cold.  Anyway, we got to see it bloom twice this past summer, but it did not survive the porch this winter.  I'm going to have to rethink next winter - either have a plan and remember to put it into action, or have hardier plants.  I'll probably get more of these plants, and I'll have a plan, but maybe I'll forget when it gets cold.  I'm only human.

When You're Not Looking

Unexpected things happen when you're not paying attention. I didn't pay attention this summer - it was too hot. I gave up on my vegetable garden. I let weeds invade my flower beds and I let some plants die. Some of those plants died during our unusually cold winter - like a sago palm, majesty palm and a queen's tears bromeliad.

Lately, I have felt really bad about letting the yard get to this point. I plan to do alot in the fall, but that's really no excuse. We have friends and family in town this week and I've been wanting to make the yard look presentable, but it has rained almost every day for the past two weeks. I managed to mow the front yard yesterday. I had planned to mow the back, but it started raining just as I was finishing. It rained again this morning, but I was able to get out there this afternoon. I mowed and I did some edging, really just pulling grass out of beds. As I was doing this I noticed the bromeliad was blooming. I had given up on these - I left them outside all winter and I thought they might be dead. I thought the same thing about the majesty palm and the sago palm, but both of those have put out new growth in recent weeks. So, things really do happen when you're not paying attention, especially around the yard.

Shade Garden

I planted a shade garden a few weeks ago. I hope it will be shady enough - the last place I planted one ended up getting full afternoon sun in the summer. That's not a good thing - it burned the heck out of the hydrangea. The new garden is definitely shadier, but it still gets a few hours of sun in the late morning, possible early afternoon. There are still almost six weeks until the longest day of the year - that will be the true test.

Why did I do this? For starters, my old one was a bust and I knew I had to move the hydrangea before it suffered another summer. I was working to create a shady area on the northwest side of the house, but I hadn't gotten very far with that. I think the real push came when I found what amounted to a heaping wheelbarrow full of hardy ferns. I had to do it. I started looking around the yard for other plants that would do well in the shade. I definitely wanted to move the hydrangea and the hosta would look good in there as well. That was all I had in there at first. I got two different types of bromeliads last fall that I never knew what to do with. They're not hardy as far as I know so I potted them and sunk them in the ground and mulched around them. I'll have to pull them out before it freezes, but that's a small price to pay for a little color in the garden. The other plant I have that's going in the shade garden is a root beer plant. We got a few of these from friends last fall. They died back during the winter, but returned again this year. I looked them up recently and they do well in shade, so that's where they're going.

I've been looking into native orchids to put in there but most of what I've found don't seem that interesting. That's disappointing, because I'm really curious about them, but don't think I have the skill or growing enviroment for the exotic orchids. I have future plans for this garden, not including orchids. I plan to get a few different types of ferns to go in there and maybe a perennial or two that likes the shade and has some color. Any suggestions?