I echo the comments made here that this is an amazing series of pics that nicely illustrate why many of us are such avid fans of this plant family. No suprise that the Thais can grow them to perfection when they put their minds to it. I had a collected tayoensis offset offered to me last year as a favor from a friend, and idiotically declined it because I am short on space and was sure that I already had a wild seedling from a new locality! The latter plant, which germinated several years back from a stow-away seed in a batch of wild-collected live sphagnum from the Cordillera del Condor on the Ecuador-Perú border, has revealed itself to be a surprisingly lookalike Pitcairnia sp...a dead ringer in fact, but for its "soft" spines on the basal part of the leaves. In fact, it's superficially so close in appearance that I still find myself fingering its leaves from time to time and wondering. Obviously, one would expect the infl. architecture to vary quite a bit from one sp. to the other and I obviously hope that it turns out to be exceptional as a flowering plant, too. Coincidentally, this handsome brom also bears a resemblance to a rather enigmatic Pitcairnia pictured in another of Chanin's beautifully-illustrated threads; that on his tour of the bromeliad collection at Nong Nooch. Dennis Cathcart assures me that tayoensis attains *immense* proportions in the wild...somewhat akin to our indigenous magdalenae, which can be a giant in lowland swamp forest, but on an even grander scale. I wonder why some of these really giant aechmeas, bromelias and brochinnias "dwarf" in cultivation. I shamelessly admit that Chanin's beautifully-cultivated assemblage of spines inspired me to assemble a rather poor copy of his collection this year...although, after a period of uncertainty as to their ID, I am now convinced that I did beat him to the punch on Ortho. albopictum ;^) Ciao, J

Thanks, Gonzer. I appreciate the help. As you can see it was sold potted up. I grow T. cyanea this way as well as on wood so am in a quandary about leaving it as is or mounting it in a tree. Thoughts?

Marcia - I won't even try to ID them for you. I have over 100 varieties in the ground and in trees and probably have correct names for 5 of them. There is a Bromeliad Forum here on GardenWeb, but there isn't much traffic on it. You could try posting the pictures there and hope someone stumbles across them. As far as where to plant them ... Filtered sunlight, minimal water will give you the best results. Remember that these bromeliads will bloom only once and then send out new pups to continue the cycle. Deadhead them when the bloom has turned brown and cut the old plants away as the new pups grow.

Wallisadi, love seeing pictures of your garden. What I don't recognize is the small tree with the cut-out palmate leaves. I don't think it's jatropha multifida. I like the way you've leaned the pot holder on the tree. Looks like the begonias are climbing the tree. Leelee, that's a cycad called dioon spinulosum. A wonderful plant that I highly recommend. Completely carefree and looks good any season. A real focal point. Anna