Deuterocohnia digitata

[RICHAUD]

A little specy of this genus with a little spike
10cm pot

Deuterocohnia digitata .jpg (69.37 KiB) Viewed 2497 times

Deuterocohnia digitata hampe.jpg (41.15 KiB) Viewed 2497 times

[Apicra]

Nice! It is a shame that some of the smaller, succulent, terrestial Bromeliads are not allowed to be shown at BCSS shows. Does anybody else want to see them allowed in?

Best wishes,
Derek Tribble,
Harrow Branch

[Colin Walker]

Nice! It is a shame that some of the smaller, succulent, terrestial Bromeliads are not allowed to be shown at BCSS shows. Does anybody else want to see them allowed in?

Best wishes,
Derek Tribble,
Harrow Branch

Absolutely YES to that Derek. Many bromeliads are as succulent as many, many other plants we grow and ARE allowed in shows. Our Shows Committee has far too narrow a concept of what is a succulent IMHO. Goodness, I could be excommunicated if I'm not careful. Or maybe voted out of office?

I can also add weight to my argument in that the second edition of The Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants will have a broader coverage of bromeliads than does the first edition.

[Apicra]

There are few succulent Bromeliads i.m.h.o. but we are missing out on a few lovely plants. Abromeitiella, Deuterocohnia, Dyckia & Puya come to mind. One argument put forward by the Shows Committee was that there is no-one in the UK to speak about them and educate judges, now that there is no longer any British Bromeliad Society. They do seem out of fashion and nurserymen won't bother unless there is a demand.

Best wishes,
DT

[Colin Walker]

There are few succulent Bromeliads i.m.h.o. but we are missing out on a few lovely plants. Abromeitiella, Deuterocohnia, Dyckia & Puya come to mind. One argument put forward by the Shows Committee was that there is no-one in the UK to speak about them and educate judges, now that there is no longer any British Bromeliad Society. They do seem out of fashion and nurserymen won't bother unless there is a demand.

Best wishes,
DT

Derek, I don't know much about bromeliads myself, but I do know that there are far, far more than a few succulent species - hundreds of spp. in fact. For example, there are over a 100 spp. of Dyckia and that's just one genus.

[Ali Baba]

I heartily agree that the succulent terrestrial bromeliads should be more widely grown, perhaps allowing them into the society shows would create some more interest and help them become more widely known. They are certainly as succulent as Agaves.
Dyckia is a large genus complicated by the fact that most plants in cultivation are hybrids of unknown parentage, whatever it says on the label, which I guess might put off some collectors. However they are nice plants whatever their origin.
Unfortunately many terrestrial broms don't make good large specimens as they tend to die off in the centre due to their sympodial growth habit, so they require splitting and replanting when they get too big. Not a job for the faint hearted, I'd sooner repot an Opuntia any day rather than a Dyckia!
However the Deuterocohnias formerly known as Abromitiella make lovely large specimen clumps and deserve to be seen at shows.
I note that the CSSA allows terrestrial broms at their shows.
Anyway heres a picture to perhaps enthuse you ( a nice Dyckia given to me by Chris Hynes, probably a form of D. fosteriana).
Apologies Richaud for hijacking your thread!

[Apicra]

I was thinking that there are not so many of the succulent Bromeliads in cultivation. Yes, Dyckia has much to offer, as can be seen on this website: http://dyckiabrazil.blogspot.co.uk/.

Best wishes,
DT

[Ali Baba]

Well, of the terrestrial bromeliads, I grow Dyckia, Deuterocohnia (incl. Abromitiella) Hechtia, Orthophytum and Puya. The last two I would say are xerophytes but not succulent, but the former are succulent. Unfortunately plants are not easy to come by in this country, and seed of Dyckia has a very short period of viability so bought seed often doesn't germinate.
There are a few enthusiasts around...

[Paul in Essex]

One of the major problems is that many of the xeric bromeliads take up a lot of real estate - they get BIG - and so are not suitable for small greenhouse cultivation. That leaves larger botanical glasshouses or the hardier species to be grown outdoors, of which there are but a few. That said I believe they make very interesting, architectural and, when flowering, beautiful additions to the xeric garden.

For the record, I have grown these outside since before the recent big freezes:

Fascicularia bicolor ssp bicolor
Fascicularia bicolor ssp canaliculata
Fascicularia litoralis (invalid name but, at the least, a different form of ssp bicolor)
Ochagavia carnea
Ochagavia litoralis (different to the Fascicularia above)
Greigia sphacelata
Puya spathacea
Puya alpestris
Puya caerulea
Puya hybrid bought as berteroana but most likely a cross with P. chilensis, given the flower colour
Puya unknown sp x2 - both doing very well!
Aechmea recurvata and some of its varieties.
Dyckia fosteriana
Dyckia 'Morris Hobbs'
Dyckia velascana
Hechtia glomerata
Deuterochonia (Abromeitiella) brevifolia
Billbergia nutans - not strictly a xeric but more epiphyte.

I have planted a few more puyas, dyckias et al recently which are starting to grow away nicely due to last year's non-existent winter.

Prior to the big freeze I tried anything up to another 20 or so taxa which all bit the dust.

[Colin Walker]

I heartily agree that the succulent terrestrial bromeliads should be more widely grown, perhaps allowing them into the society shows would create some more interest and help them become more widely known. They are certainly as succulent as Agaves.
Dyckia is a large genus complicated by the fact that most plants in cultivation are hybrids of unknown parentage, whatever it says on the label, which I guess might put off some collectors. However they are nice plants whatever their origin.
Unfortunately many terrestrial broms don't make good large specimens as they tend to die off in the centre due to their sympodial growth habit, so they require splitting and replanting when they get too big. Not a job for the faint hearted, I'd sooner repot an Opuntia any day rather than a Dyckia!
However the Deuterocohnias formerly known as Abromitiella make lovely large specimen clumps and deserve to be seen at shows.
I note that the CSSA allows terrestrial broms at their shows.
Anyway heres a picture to perhaps enthuse you ( a nice Dyckia given to me by Chris Hynes, probably a form of D. fosteriana).
Apologies Richaud for hijacking your thread!

Lovely plant Ali Baba. I've a few bromeliads but they've been rather neglected I regret to say.