Love that Guzmania!

Lovely additions Sy! Oh I blame my shopping cart when plants just land there at checkout time

The guzmania needs a heavier pot lin, Its abit top heavy! I think there is four yellow growths emerging inside the top part of the bract, i will take a better pic tomorrow. Yeah tarev I think I notice it more so when there isn't much of a selection, they just end up with me at the checkout.

Does anyone know the name of the plant I'm going to describe? it was a bromeliad type also but much taller than tr guzmania about 1'm with large white/green leaves almost powdery looking, there was a large bract that looked like it had a large bunch of pink flowers at the end with little purple flowers coming out of those! It was abit big for my house tho.
Edit: no worries I think I found it, urn plant aechmea fasciata! I forgot it was in a tall plastic sleeve that's why it was 1m tall

Sy, your description makes me think of Urn Plant (Aechmea fasciata)

Oops ... you already said that. I should have continued reading your post.

At least Mammillarias bloom sooner than some other cacti (age wise).

I haven't had any bloom for me yet, just the one that was blooming when i got it. I do like some mammillaria like the spinossisima, geminispina, hahniahna. There's probably others I like too but in general I think its the nipples that put me off because they don't form distinct ribs.