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Guzmania
Name - Pronounced gooz-MANE-ee-a. This plant was named after a Spanish
chemist, Antonino Guzman.Description - The beauty of guzmanias
is in their strikingly coloured bracts.Origin - Central and South
America, West IndiesFamily - Bromeliaceae (bromeliads)Varieties
- The best known is Guzmania lingulata (scarlet star) which bears orange and red
bracts.Care Tips - Needs bright filtered light throughout the
year. If there is insufficient light, the plant will not produce flowers. Keep
warm all year round and humid. Water plentifully, keeping the potting mixture
moist, but not wet, at all times. The central rosette of leaves should be topped
up regularly with water. In summer keep cup filled, in winter water less. Every
fourteen days, from early spring to late summer, use a weak solution of fertiliser
when watering or misting.Trivia - Guzmania dies after it has produced
its flowers in summer but new plants can easily be propagated from the offsets
which appear as the parent plant dies. They are epiphytes and can do well if tied
on to pieces of bark with roots bound into sphagnum moss.>> Click
here for Bromeliad facts
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