Dyckia Burgundy Ice

The Dyckia 'Burgundy Ice' is a perennial whose silhouette is as intriguing as it is appealing. This plant with an exotic appearance forms a rosette of long, very slender leaves, punctuated with small curved teeth that are best avoided. Evergreen, its distinctive graphic design and shiny dark purple colour make it particularly attractive. The plant gradually widens by producing offsets at the base and eventually forms a low cushion, wider than it is tall. In summer, flower spikes rise from mature rosettes, displaying small flowers in a bright orange hue at their tips. With low to medium hardiness, this Dyckia can be grown in the ground in mild climates, or in a pot to be brought indoors in winter in harsher climates.

The Dyckia belongs to the Bromeliaceae family, which includes around fifty genera mainly found in tropical areas of South America. Many species are epiphytic, meaning they grow on a support like a tree, and some are terrestrial, the most famous being the Pineapple. In this second category, there are many ornamental plants, like the Guzmania or the Billbergia, grown indoors, but some can also be planted outdoors in mild climates, such as the Puya or the Dyckia, whose rosettes bear a clear family resemblance. Botanical classifications estimate the number of Dyckia species to be close to 200, originating from South America and predominantly Brazil. The plant is also known by its former genus names Garrelia and Prionophyllum.
'Burgundy Ice' is a horticultural variety particularly decorative in all seasons with its colourful evergreen foliage. It appears to be a hybrid of Dyckia platyphylla, a botanical species that grows naturally in the state of Bahia (central-east Brazil), capable of withstanding -8°C despite its tropical origin. The wild plant has green leaves, but they tend to turn purple in the sun, enhanced by whitish teeth around their edges, and produces an orange-yellow flowering. 'Burgundy Ice' would thus be a more ornamental improvement compared to the species. This slow-growing perennial forms an initial rosette consisting of very slender leaves, whose width gradually and regularly decreases from the base to the pointed end. These leaves are adorned with short needles, nevertheless formidable to touch, curved downwards, and with a white-yellow colour that contrasts beautifully with the dark colour of the leaf blade. In full sun, the leaves take on a dark burgundy hue, hence the plant's baptismal name, while in lower light, they tend to be a dark green with a slightly metallic sheen. Over time, the Dyckia widens by producing offsets at the base, which in turn form rosettes that tend to overlap and intertwine slightly, giving the clump a very decorative tousled appearance. After 10 years of cultivation, the developed low cushion will reach approximately 30 cm in height by 40 cm in width. Mature rosettes produce a lovely summer flowering in the form of flower spikes that rise up to 70-80 cm in height. Their tips consist of a spike of small sessile flowers (lacking floral stalks and therefore directly attached to the flower axis), somewhat tubular, with a flared end. Measuring approximately 2 to 3 cm in length and numbering around fifteen, they are mainly eye-catching due to their bright orange colour, punctuated in the centre by the yellow of the stamens.

With its compact habit, Dyckia 'Burgundy Ice' can easily be grown in a pot to be sheltered in winter in regions too cold to plant it in the ground, although its hardiness (down to -10°C in well-drained conditions) is quite commendable for a Bromeliad. In Atlantic coastal areas, and in the south (where summer watering will be necessary), you can place it in a rockery to create an exotic scene. Pair it with other plants with distinctive silhouettes like Mangaves with their highly decorative leaves. In cooler zones, opt instead for Aloe striatula, with its exotic appearance resembling its cousins from warm countries and its generous yellow-orange candelabra-like flowering. To move away from rosette forms and vary silhouettes, adopt the surprising Cylindropuntia kleiniae, much hardier than its desert cactus appearance suggests. Its cylindrical stems and ephemeral but stunning flowers are unmatched in creating an atmosphere with distant accents.