Neo Neoregelias

There is no further use in pretending. I'm not only a crazy plant lady, but a fickle one as well. I'm saying Sayonara, Solenostemon. Hasta la vista, Hedera. Arrivederci, Aloe. Bromeliads are my new true love. (Okay, I'm kidding, mostly. Even though I've had a frustrating winter with coleus and ivy, I still love them, and will probably acquire a few more of each over the next couple of months. My aloes haven't given me any trouble whatever, and I'm always on the look out for something new and interesting.) But I'm loving the Broms more and more these days.

I picked up this as yet unidentified Neoregelia last week at Lowe's. It was a reward for having finally taken care of some banking business I'd been avoiding. (I hate dealing with banks for anything more than simple deposits.) I had seen it a week or so beforehand, when I was at Lowe's for some more utilitarian reason, but failed to purchase it. Since the bank is in the same neighborhood as Lowe's, I promised myself that if I took care of business, I could buy the plant if it was still there. It was. Edited to add 04/15/10: In the comments, Mr_Subjunctive identified my plant as Neoregelia 'Ardie'

Neoregelia 'Ardie'. This is a large plant, at least a foot across.

And then there is this petite beauty:

Neoregelia 'Mo Peppa Please.' The colors are even richer and more varied in person.

One of its two pups

This was an eBay auction win. No rationalization for this purchase; I just saw it and wanted it, so I bid. I'm not crazy about the name, though. Lots of cultivar names are puns or other attempts at cleverness, and I'm mostly okay with that. I love wordplay of all types. But something about the use of dialect in this case rubs me the wrong way. What's next: Neoregelia 'Pass Da Salt, Yo'?

And as further proof that I was joking about saying au revoir to Aloe, here is a plant I bought earlier last week:

Aloe arenicola. This was a nursery purchase.

A closer view, showing the adorable spotted leaves, and an aerial root

I love it. I've never seen an Aloe with aerial roots before. I've found that aloes can be a trifle difficult to propagate vegetatively, unlike many other succulents. These roots have the potential to make things much easier.