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Dyckia sp. |
 |
| Family |
bromeliaceae |
| Life cycle |
perennial   |
| Flowers |
yellow (spring) |
| Light |
sun-part shade |
| Cultural notes |
well drained soil |
Spiny-leaved bromeliad. Both our specimens came from the sale table at Peckerwood Garden, unidentified as to species or variety, but quite nice. Our first one has narrow deep green leaves with a metallic sheen, arranged in near-perfect geometry; the second one has somewhat broader leaves, also metallic but more curvaceous with a purple cast. As far as I can tell, they probably have D. platyphylla parentage, but will likely remain unnamed. They live in our rock garden and adjacent areas, which should provide reasonable conditions. This species has survived at Peckerwood, a ways north of us, for years so it should be hardy in our garden. So far, it's survived the two severest Houston-area freezes in decade, in 2018 and 2021, although the latter did kill part of our plant. It's not a xeriscape plant like the agaves, but does tolerate a good bit of drought. More than two years after planting in our garden, in mid-March, it decided it was time to start blooming, and sent up odd twisty-wiry stems with attractive golden-yellow flowers. Can be painful to weed around, but it's worth it.
|
| | The flowers appear along the far ends of lanky stems, which visually separates them from the mother plant, creating a bit of a disembodied look |
|
| | Only part of our plant survived the megafreeze of 2021 (green shows on the right side, while the left is brown) |
|
| | Purple-leaved specimen putting out a stem lined with buds in late March. Tiny ants patrol the buds... |
| 
| | ...giving way to soft-orange flowers a few days later |
|
| | More than a month later, as the first flowers are busy making seed, a branch stem blooms unexpectedly – from lower on the stem than the early flowers |
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In our garden, this plant grows in the following area: rock garden zone About my plant portraits
Visitors to this page have left the following comments| Jeff Harris | Apr 05, 2020 | Hi Rob,
Here's what my friend had to say - it's not as definitive as we'd like, but he's seen a lot of them and knows these plants quite well. Cheers, Jeff
'Oh boy. Could be anything. Wade and his partner (blanking on his name) from YuccaDoo probably brought some Dyckia into cultivation from their trips to South America, but they also had hybrids too.' |
- Seed for 'Red Devil' from NARGS '21/'22 exchange. Baggy 70F with light (45%G, 11-40d)
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Last modified:
May 20, 2022
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