The flowers on my aechmea plant are finally opening. They are on stalks about a foot long coming out of the center of the plant. The flower is about 6 inches wide from tendril to spiky tendril.
Aechmeas can be grown in Sunset Zones 22 -24, or (USDA Zone 10 or above or hardy to about 40 degrees). These bromeliads normally grow on trees in the rainforest, but mine is in a pot on the patio.
The flower starts out pink with some creamy white. In a way, it looks like more than one flower. There are smaller buds circling the largest one crowning the center.
After a few days additional colors show in the aechmea. Tiny, two-petal flowers in deep blue and dark pink open inside the massive bloom. Aechmea blossoms can last for several months.
Alas, after the blooming is finished the plant will die. But it will not go to the big Greenhouse in the Sky without my appreciation. And I will have something else to remember it by; it will send out pups that should bloom in a few years.