We have a nice variety of houseplants here, the only thing is many came without any tags. So through time we have just relied on guess work in how much water, light and care some of them need. But I've come up with some questions about a few of them particularly the one that has green spiky leaves with a reddish- almost flowerlike, spiky center. We that red flower has been slowly fading and turning a dry brown. My questions- did something in the care routine go awry? Was this supposed to happen? Do I deadhead and another will come? I wonder what to do- so I decide to do a little gumshoe work on the internet.
So what I found is that the plant is a bromeliad, from the Rana family of the Guzmania species, which has 120 varieties. The plant is native to tropical areas of South America. The red bloom which ours is losing can last up to two years on some plants, most last 3-4 months, ours lasted about a year. To help me figure out if we could get this to re-bloom I found help at plant-care.com. Here is says if the plant has "pups" or a type of off-shoot, they can be separated and grown in a new pot, with a possible bloom. They give great instructions on how to properly get the "pups" going in their new pot and what to do with the wilting one.
Aside from this mysterious one- we have a a rubber tree and two dracaena trees, again plant-care.com was loaded with good info on their care.
Some more great resources for houseplant identification:
