In honour of the Bromeliad Society International's 18th World Bromeliad Conference (24 – 29 June @ Flecker Botanic Gardens,
As part of our Tropical Glasshouse re-opening project in 2007, I placed our two largest V. hieroglyphica (probably between 15 and 20 years old) out the front of the glasshouse, to dress it up somewhat. This was in late May 07, and meant that the temperature difference was quite stark – I suspected they could handle the shock of coming straight from the glasshouse minimum 16C to an average 8C overnight, and it seemed I was right. Both held up very well and continued to grow, albeit very slowly. 4 months passed… until on a very windy day in early spring, one of them blew over, smashing the terracotta outer it was in (thankfully the plant was ok!). I didn’t have a replacement pot, and couldn’t leave just one out there, so brought them both back into the warmth.
I thought nothing of it until I saw that the new growth they were both putting on looked slightly deformed, or at least not like the usual new leaves… So, with my curiosity piqued, I watched and waited (one of the best parts of gardening!) and lo and behold they were both putting on an inflorescence – aka a flower spike! Fantastic, I thought, as I hadn’t seen a V. hieroglyphica flower before, AND it gave me an opportunity trying my hand at both pollination and, hopefully, growing them from seed.
So, over the next 3-4 months I took photos, watched, waited and wondered if someone might pinch them - until they both began to open up and show off their colour. Like many bromeliads, these two started flowering from the bottom of the inflorescence and continued over time until finishing at the tip. Pollination of these guys is a bit tricky, as they open their flowers at night (they’re thought to be pollinated by bats or moths), so you have to get in and do the business early in the morning on any flowers that opened the previous night. This means paying close attention to when individual flowers open, as well as starting each day with a paintbrush or toothpick in hand and a readiness to make like a moth (or bat)! I would love to be able to say I was vigilant and started EVERY day like this, however being the human I am, managed to miss a number of days and flowers... Nevertheless, I was hopeful for a positive result from my diurnal activities, and knew that with time the twins would either bear fruit... or not!
No tale with a Shakespearean flavour however would be complete without some disappointment or loss - I would love to be able to tell you that I was successful in my work, produced bucket loads of seeds, and had a new generation of Vrieseas on the way... Alas, I cannot... it seems my imitation of a moth was not good enough, or perhaps I should have been mimicking a bat!! Still, all is not lost - as is the way of bromeliads, both parents are producing vegetative babies (aka pups) so the lineage will be carried on; whether I have to wait another 15 years to have another go at pollination remains to be seen...!
Happy Growing!
