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Do you love, rare flowers? Have a thing for interesting looking plants? Well each Wednesday we bring you a short post about a rare flower, that, hopefully you won’t have seen before. This week our focus is on the beautifully coloured and all round intriguing Pink Puya (Puya dyckioides)

The Pink Puya is a member of the Bromelaid family, a group of plants which grow nearly exclusively in the New world tropics and sub tropics with this particular soecies being found in Argentina. If you can find them they are generally easy to raise being able to grow in pots which can be moved indoors for winter as well as in ordinary cactus soils which is unlike their pineapple relatives. This exotic plant will have no problems with temperatures around 30-35^oC and can survive down to temperatures as low –6^oC making it particularly versatile to swings in temperature. It enjoys plenty of sunshine but in areas of warmer afternoon temperatures would be very grateful for some afternoon shade.

Over its first few years the Pink Puya produces large arching leaves measuring around a metre in length and a flower stalk which protrudes outwards to a similar length. At around 6-7 years old the plant should be close to its flowering size where the top two feet of stalk will produce stunning flowers off around an inch long with the colours varying from vibrant combinations of pinks, greens and blues in its infancy to dark and glowing reds as they mature. Most species of Puya bloom only in the spring and have large spines which can make them difficult to look after, however this species can bloom from early spring to late fall and has much smaller spines.

Overall these are a beautiful plant to view, with a stunning variety of colours.  If you can find one and put in the time and patience you’ll be rewarded by a truly wonderful plant.