Vriesea splendens Bromeliad – Flaming Sword
Name: Scientific name Vriesea splendens. Common name Flaming Sword
Description:
The Vriesea splendens has very dense foliage that produces a few red flower spikes when it comes of age at between three to five years. The leaf shape is more like a sword rather than a knife and the flower spikes can grow to 60cm in height above the smooth edge pointy leaves.
These yellow flowers will bloom for several months when kept in the right conditions, but they don’t last for that long. One red flower spike can produce up to 24 individual flowers, but this will depend on how long the spike grows to.
These plants can be grown in hanging pots, glass houses, planter boxes where there is filtered light, underneath and around the base of higher growing plants, they can be mounted on a piece of bark and hung up or simply attached to the side of a tree fern.
Size:
They usually grow up to 45cm in height and 40cm in diameter while indoors. While some Vriesea splendens have reached heights of 65 to 70cm in height and 55cm in diameter as outdoor plants.
Conditions:
This particular bromeliad is not one of the easiest to grow as they need a combination of plenty of filtered bright light, but definitely not fun sun all day and avoid the midday sun. Usually around 3 hours of direct sunlight, warm temperatures and a reasonably high humidity will do the trick to produce plenty of flowers.
Propagation:
The Vriesea splendens will produce small offshoots from around the base of the plant, which are usually referred to as pups. These offshoots or pups, with their roots can be cut off from the main plant and replanted.
They can also be grown from a seed and best done during spring in a small pot until a few leaves have started to show.
When to plant:
Best time to plant the Vriesea splendens is from the beginning of spring and up to a couple of weeks in summer.
#Flowers
#Indoor
#Pots