Puya-slight OT
Jane McGary (Sat, 05 Feb 2011 16:05:32 PST)
Puya species are fairly easy to grow from seed, but all of them get
too large to be happy in a pot, and moreover they're viciously spiny
along the leaf margins so you have to wrap them in a blanket to move
the pot. I grew one of the highest-elevation species and tried one
outdoors on the rock garden, but it turned to mush during an Oregon
winter. I think this is another of the many alpine plants that can't
stand freezing temperatures when wet. They certainly experience frost
in nature, but they aren't soaked at the time.
That said, I did have one flower in a large pot kept in a solarium in
winter. It died after flowering, not having made offsets.
Jane McGary
Portland, Oregon USA
At 10:01 AM 2/5/2011, you wrote:
In reading about South American bulbs, I found several references to
Puya (bromeliad) being hardy to zone 7-8. I would like to know what
PBS members' experiences have been with this genus. Are some of the
species hardy to zone 7 or colder? What growing conditions have been
successful?
Kathleen
Pacific Northwest, in a mild and cloudy winter, unlike much of North
America