Billbergia nutans

Billbergia nutans is a tender perennial plant with a very exotic appearance, which can be grown in large pots and stored indoors during winter, or planted in the ground in our mildest regions. This original and refined plant offers abundant flowering in summer. The inflorescences, in trailing clusters, emerge from beautiful pink bracts in an unlikely mix of pink, pale green and navy blue. The plant forms dense clumps that expand over time. It thrives in filtered light, planted in well-drained soil, even occasionally dry.

Billbergia nutans or Queen's Tears belongs to the Bromeliad family, so it is a cousin of the pineapple. This botanical species, which tolerates light frost and sun, is native to southern Argentina and Brazil. The plant develops slowly, with basal leaves that spread in width and regularly produce offsets. The abundant flowering usually takes place in summer, from June to September. The inflorescences, which can reach a height of 50 to 60cm (20 to 24in), emerge from rosettes of leaves that will then disappear. Each flower stalk is adorned with several large fuchsia pink bracts. They release an arched spike adorned with tube-shaped flowers, pink at the base, ending with striped petals of green and blue. Curved outward, they reveal long yellow stamens that add a touch of warm colour. The sword-shaped leaves are coloured in a glossy dark green, tinged with olive green. Arranged in a rosette, they form a hollow in the centre that serves as a water reservoir in nature. The leaves persist in mild climates, on a plant that is hardy up to about -5°C (23°F).

This Billbergia can be easily grown on a terrace, where it will thrive in a large pot filled with compost, to be stored in a greenhouse or conservatory to protect it from severe frost. It is undoubtedly one of the most elegant and lightweight Billbergia species, with a tousled habit reminiscent of certain grasses, and a delicate flowering display in technicolour. In our mildest regions, it can be planted as a standalone specimen in the ground, on a neutral-coloured mulch, or planted among large stones in a shaded rockery in a protected position, or even paired with sedges or dead nettles on the edge of a woodland.