I just looked through all the posts in this thread for the first time, but didn't read every word. I looked at the pictures and scanned for a certain genius of bromeliad and didn't see it. So, as an educational show I used to watch would say, " and now for something completely different"
What would you think about a bromeliad that loves full sun and laughs at 17F? How about a bromeliad that not only doesn't die after it flowers, but a single headed plant that will live a hundred years and can flower every year, yet alone a clustering plant that puts out multiple flower spikes as it continually gets bigger? Lastly how about a terrestrial bromeliad that in habitat survives having no rain for 6 months during the year, but also will thrive when it is regularly watered and fertilized?
Welcome to the world of Dyckias. I put them into two categories. There are landscape types that are the most cold hardy and ate a decent size so they they will have a good impact in a landscape. Also, they need to be inexpensive enough to be affordable for landscape use. One of the most popular landscape types is the Cherry Coke which has Dyckia platyphylla and Dyckia fosteriana ( both very cold hardy ) as part of the lineage. Then there are collector types. These may be unattractive or small species that may be interesting to a plant collector to keep in a small pot, but that's about it. Then there are all sorts of named hybrids. Some may be worthy of landscape use, but some of these might be too small, but also, some of these can get quite expensive to the point that most people would not pay that kind of money for such a small plant. The most popular dyckia hybrids in the last few years were made by Bill Baker, who died a few years ago. His most famous is probably " Brittle Star" and there are all kinds of named hybrids with the BS background. BS has D. Dawsonii as well as platyphylla and fosteriana in it's background. Along with BS, I like another hybrid of his, Arizona, which is red with white teeth. I'll go out and take some more pictures, but I'll start with showing one of my favorite dyckia hybrids for breeding D. "Snaggletooth". Tom
