plant of the day..Aechmea pineliana
The following thread was started by Stan on May 12, 2008 at 4:27 pm PST
Nice exemplar, but not the most cold tolerant
by any stretch of the imagination. This species is heavily damaged at temps we occasionally receive at least once a decade, while many others I grow are not. I don't think you can say that this holds up to 24F for a week as we saw back in 1989/90 winter. Another weakness of this species for casual outdoor growing in the ground, is that it is much more susceptible to rotting out in wet winters than many other hardy Aechmeas here in the SF Bay Area. For me, A. pineliana var miniata, which is the actual variety in your picture, grows best if protected from the worst of the winter rains, and kept in a pot.
Yours is being grown under ideal light conditions to get maximum red foliage, but you do pile it on a bit with the "hardiest" label...
The above followup was added by bahia on May 12, 2008 at 10:17 pm PST.
When it comes to broms, there are plenty of ugly plants that can take into the teens..depending even on if you consider some Dyckya's and such, broms.That's another topic.
Pineliana is as i said, ONE OF the hardiest and BEST looking we can grow here.
1990?..we are into killing Oleander temps now-lol. I never go by that unless talking about taking 0 % chance death by cold with my plantings. And that would eliminate just about all that's worth keeping. And for sure anything fun or a challenge.
The above followup was added by STAN on May 13, 2008 at 7:33 am PST.
At least here in the Sunset zones 15/16/17, that freeze was hardly cold enough to kill oleanders. I have probably over 20 different varieties of bromeliads that handled the 24F temps of that freeze without any problems, but A. pineliana v. pineliana was not one of them. I still would not classify this as "one of the hardiest bromeliads", as there are easily a dozen other Aechmea species that are much hardier, and A. pineliana can get damaged at 28F and below, which puts it in the tender category for most of California outside the direct coastal influence.
Maybe I should just let it pass, but I think it is misleading to make claims about plants that appear uniformed or inaccurate, especially if people buy this plant and expect it to take extreme cold, based on your post. Now if you had been able to say that you knew it survived a certain temp in your garden with no damage, that is another story...
The above followup was added by bahia on May 14, 2008 at 9:10 am PST.
It took all the cold of 07 with nada damage. It also is more available then some obscure plants most people will never think of buying or finding for sale.Most brom dealers list it-and they ALL talk of its cold tolerance.
Ans -again- it is one of the most colorful broms that can take our chill. A caudata can take 20's easy..but out of bloom its a dull grey green brom. Same story for most hardy Aechmeas.David you are so conservative i doubt anything would be ever be tried if it was up to you. I have seen you preach how so many plants "struggle" in the bay area and "dont flower " --it turns out it just struggles and not flowers for you in chilly BERKELY...
btw, right now according to WU. its 73 in Berkeley. In inland Hayward my digital says 90.3,WU Hay airport 88..that happens often enough to make a difference.
The above followup was added by STAN on May 14, 2008 at 5:09 pm PST.