Dyckias are an entire genus of Bromeliads that mainly come
from fairly dry areas of South America. Many grow on rocks. For
this reason, Dyckias are being used more and more for anyone who
wants a colorful plant that doesn't use a lot of water. Dyckias
will also thrive with regular care. In other plant groups, plants
that we know are xeric in nature have problems with rot when grown
in the garden, but Dyckias are versatile enough to grow in either
situation without problems. They are so versatile, that here in
Florida, the FNGLA featured two hybrid Dyckias as their "Garden
Select plants for 2010". Some Dyckias can make very good
landscape plants, and some are mainly collector plants. Dyckias
typically prefer full sun, and many are cold hardy down to the
lower 20s, and some even to the mid-teens. All of the Dyckias
that I will call a "landscape Dyckia" needs to be cold
hardy to the upper teens and most of these did very well down
to the mid teens F. They also need to be a good size so that they
show well in the landscape. Dyckias that I will call "collector
Dyckias" are plants that are either small, are not extremely
cold hardy, or for the most part are rare, hard to come by hybrids
that will cost a lot more per plant as compared to the landscape
Dyckias. Landscape Dyckias need to be moderately priced so that
they can be affordable for general use in our landscapes.
Dyckias plants themselves can be very colorful and are mainly
red, silver, or green, or combinations of the three, but one of
the great attributes of Dyckias, are the flowers, as seen above
with this group of Tricolors. Dyckias will normally produce 3
to 4 foot tall flower spikes in early or late spring. The small,
trumpet shaped flowers will start to open up towards the bottom
of the spike, a few each day. They will continue to open until
they have reached the top of the spike. By the time the top flowers
have opened, the lower flowers have dried up and have usually
set seed. This process usually takes four to six weeks, so you
will have color for at least that long. As Dyckias cluster over
time, each cluster can produce many flower spikes that will be
staggered enough to give you good color for a couple of months
each spring. To give you an idea on this, these first year 7 gallon
Tricolors above were already producing two and three spikes per
plant, so larger clumps should produce 10 to 15 flower spikes
each. If planted as a medium height ground cover, a display of
100 to 200 flower spikes in one grouping would be easily attained.
I often see these flowers being visited by butterflies and humming
birds in my back yard. For those of you that are already familiar
with Bromeliads, you know that most Bromeliad plants will die
after they flower. Dyckias DO NOT DIE AFTER
THEY FLOWER! Each Dyckia plant can
live to be very old and clusters can live to be older than we
are. The plants can flower each and every year and never die off.
Where else can you find a colorful Bromeliad that tolerates the
mid teens F, can thrive in full sun, doesn't need a lot of water,
and flowers each and every year? Dyckias only improve with age.
We have many Dyckias for sale, but MANY
more in our collection. Dyckias are grown from seeds and from
dividing offsets. Any Dyckia that has been given a hybrid "name"
must only be produced by offsets so that they are exact clones
of the named variety. Even if a plant self pollinates itself,
every seedling will be different. We are cross pollinating many
of these and over time, we will have many new, one of a kind hybrids
for sale, but these would be placed in the collector section.
I have made a new page for each of the
Dyckias we have for sale. Each page will have a picture of a plant
and at least one picture of what the flower looks like. Also there
will be sizes and prices. I will group these as landscape Dyckias
and collector Dyckias. Click each name to bring up the individual
page. Enjoy!
