A Guzmania bromeliad comes to my office on the Columbia River

Lee's gift to me before his trip to Bend this week was a beautiful jungle plant for my office here in the (nearly) frozen north. It reminds me of the bromeliads we saw in Panama. Nice memories of an amazing time, and a splash of color on a gray day. Astoria is actually in a rainforest, but not of the type this plant would call home. Here it looks out the window over the Columbia River. There is plenty of water here for a bromeliad (billions of gallons, nonstop), but the heat rises only on the occasional day each year. The pamphlet says I should pour purified water into the leaf pockets (oops, I hope it will forgive me for drowning the soil at its feet an hour ago) and I should let it dry out between waterings. I can do that - ask my other plants. When in doubt, I can go to Kent's Bromeliad Nursery Inc. according to the brochure and get further hints on keep it comfortable. Eventually, if I'm good to it, it will have puppies, or pups, which you replant when they're half the size of mom. Hmm. That could be interesting. Check back next year and see if the jungle has flourished.