Puya Bromeliad Species

This is a very graceful Puya and certainly the most gardener-friendly Puya due to its insignificant spines. Contrary to other comments, I...Read More find P. mirabilis to be an ornamental plant, especially when it is flowering. It is a trouble free plant that I usually forget to water but it always looks good. I'd rather have it over the overrated and viciously-spined P. venusta any day. Brea, Orange County, California, Zone 10B.

I got puya mirabilis seeds on ebay in 2009. Instructions to germinate were to lightly cover w/soil, use a mister, keep in cool lit area- ...Read Moreallowing sunlight to reach seeds in a cactus potting mix..

Several sprouts in pots later(i separated the sprouts) a year later suddenly a stalk comes shooting up 3 ft high in a week- 2 weeks later it bloomed.
I kept this plant indoors with full morning sun & indirect evening sun.

It was great fun I let it go to seed. Tip tho, the moment they appear dry clip the pod off.
I allowed ours to sit & the thing threw seeds everywhere.
I put another outside(which did not survive michigan winter) leaving the pod on the stem. When I picked it up to dispatch it into the yard waste I was rewarded with
razor sharp seeds in my hair, a couple getting in my eye. So be very careful with these they bite even in death..

Lovely elegant plant & flower if you don't mind fanged foliage.

Grew a 30cm diameter one in a pot for a year and it flowered the following year and has produced lots of offsets. Has coped with 0oC, not...Read More trusted it below yet!. Flower stalk is 1.2m, with elegant lime green flowers. Beware the spines that are very fine and break off in your skin!

Small suckering almost grasslike plant with stiff, curving barely spined tufts of leaves in a clump. Not a beautiful plant, but nice tall flowers.