About six weeks ago, I transplanted a few young bromeliads closer to my bedroom, breaking them away from their rather crowded and poverty stricken colony. I was hoping that the exotic resettled bromeliads would be healthier and develop more vigour, and do what is always expected of other young plants: show off your unique flowers!
Luck was on my side. Surprisingly, in less than two months in their new place, one of the plants began to develop a small reddish yellow bud-like thing. I was certain, then, that some lovely flowers were already on their way!
The variety that I grow is the tropical bromeliad, or Tropical Orange Flowering Bromeliad, to be more specific. I don’t know what it is called locally, although I remember that some village people refer to it as Nenas Hiasan (Decorative Pineapple). The leaves of the tropical bromeliad are almost similar to that of the pineapple, except that they are thinner although stiffer. These leaves which resemble long blades are nicely decorated with irregular but beautiful white patches. Both edges of the leaves tend to curve inward a bit, and they are lined with rather unfriendly sharp thorns throughout.
Can I leave it to you to have a good look at the 'blooming' flowers yourself? I may not do justice in explaining to you their real beauty.
But I can tell you that these bromeliad flowers don't seem to have any special smell. Red ants, however, appear to have a great liking toward them. So, these flowers might be sweet. They do look sweet!
Would you use them as one of your wedding gifts? If you are really going to do it, you might want to remove the ants first.
