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Purple Passion (P.) Bromeliad

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Bromeliad Island Garden

Purple Passion (P.) Bromeliad

​Neoregelia Onyxia (Hybrid) (Neoregelia Purple Passion)

  • Common Name: Purple Passion Bromeliad
  • Scientific Name: Neoregelia Onyxia (Hybrid) (Neoregelia Purple Passion)
  • Family Name: Bromeliaceae
  • Origin: Florida? (Brazil and Amazon basin)
  • Height: 12” - 18”
  • Width: 12” - 18”
  • Growth: medium
  • Zone: 10A - 12
  • Light Needs: Full sun – Partial/dappled shade, almost all bromeliads appreciate some partial shade in the afternoons, the sunlight helps bring out the colors, but they will burn in full sun all day, morning sun is the best.
  • Salt Tolerance:  Low
  • Soil/PH/Texture: This Epiphyte will grow in almost any medium as long as it drains well, provides stability while the rooting system is developing, and is not packed down tightly and that has a slightly acid - neutral pH. (Some mediums it prefers are peat moss, perlite, tree fern fiber, redwood, pine, cypress, hadite, very coarse builders sand, small sized gravel, and or fir bark.)
  • Soil Moisture: Water inside the vase of the plant and make sure it has good drainage. (Make sure to remember to flush the central cup every so often to remove any built-up salts) Make sure to reduce watering during the winter rest period and never let the plant sit in standing water.
  • Drought Tolerance: High
  • Pests/Diseases: No serious pests or diseases. Can develop root rot if left for long periods in saturated soil.
  • Growing Conditions: easy to grow and low maintenance, they are not heavy feeders, a single pellet of a slow-release pellet fertilizer dropped into the cup will suffice for a season or you can use a liquid fertilizer at 1/2 or 1/4 strength. (Pellets can be mixed in the soil at time of planting as well)
  • Characteristics: Asymmetrical dark foliage/bracts with bright purple center. (The flower bracts are often long-lasting—sometimes for months and are what is so attractive to people) This bromeliad blooms In March – May. After the flower dies, the mother plant begins to die also, but the mother plant produces pups at her base to replace her.
  • Propagation: by offsets, or pups.
  • Wildlife: unknown
  • Facts: Fertilizers can cause new and tender growths of the plant to burn easily, use very sparingly.
  • Designer Considerations: use for borders, mass plantings around a specimen tree, along walkways, hanging in trees or on displays and they are suitable for containers.