Fascicularia bicolor is a rarely-seen Bromeliad. Just before the plant flowers, the leaves suddenly turn from green to a shocking fluorescent red. The tightly-clustered, sky blue & yellow flowers are simply divine. As exotic as it looks, the plant is easy to grow, and frost hardy down to minus 5. A very rare and hard-to-find species. While the leaves do have spines, they are not very menacing, so it is safe to grow the plant near walkways. It produces many offsets over the years, eventually forming a large colony. Around mid Autumn, the central leaves of mature plants turn bright red and the flower cluster emerges. Each bloom in the cluster has 3 blue petals surrounding bright yellow anthers. It comes from a region that has cool, spring-like weather year-round, with cooler nights. It blooms best in full sun , although some afternoon shade might be needed in warmer areas. It grows well in a pot in cactus soil, and can be raised indoors as a houseplant. It seems to flower best when its roots are cramped. Since it comes from coastal areas, it prefers some humidity in the air about 40% is recommended
