PLANT PROFILE:
Aechmea fasciata

This is one plant from the dozens of plant groups of bromeliads that are available for indoor cultivation. The common name is "vase" or "urn" plant due to the shape of the mature plant. As this plant grows, the silvery scales that cover the strap shed, leaving green bands on the lilac gray leaves. The pink flower is really a bract that lasts for three to four months. The actual flowers are purplish blue and open inside the cuts and layers of the pink bract.

In its native lands, the center of the "vase" catches rainwater that is loaded with the nutrients the plant needs. In indoor cultivation, keep water in the vase and your bromeliad will be happy. Withhold fertilizer for several months in the winter, and provide it with very bright light indoors to bring a young plant into bloom. The parent will enjoy a shaded spot in the garden during the summer months.

Shortly after blooming the suckers (young plants) will break the soil and begin to grow. The suckers can be separated from the adult in late summer since the adult will begin to decline after flowering.

Water the soil minimally, and use a water-soluble fertilizer mixed at one-third of the suggested strength; add the fertilizer directly into the vase to encourage strong growth in the late summer and fall months. This plant must be brought inside during the winter, and it will bloom from the suckers that it produces.