Den smilliae surprise spikes!

[SaraJean]

Y’all I am THRILLED. I got this Den smilliae a few years ago from H&R. It keeps going though phases of doing really great (lots of new growths at once, getting nice and tall) and really terrible (rotting growths, mealy bugs). Winter lighting is an absolute struggle since it’s such a tall Den now, tallest cane is about 34” and getting taller, needs to stay warm, and really wants that super high winter light. I can’t do that since it has to stay on the shadier bench in the greenhouse over winter. I was starting to think it would never bloom because I couldn’t get the lighting right and, bam! Just noticed two spike today on the old, shorter growths. I have NO idea where these came from, lol. Just thought I would share and I’ll hopefully update in a few weeks with some bloom pics

[DirtyCoconuts]

Looks like you have a great show coming

[Jeff214]

Congrats on the buds!

Do the buds appear only on the apex of the canes? If it blooms from the sides like Den goldschmidtianum, you could nip the top and control the height of the plant?

[signin1234]

Oh hell yeah! That's awesome!!!

[SaraJean]

Originally Posted by Jeff214

Congrats on the buds!

Do the buds appear only on the apex of the canes? If it blooms from the sides like Den goldschmidtianum, you could nip the top and control the height of the plant?

I’m pretty sure this one just blooms from the up by the apex. If it ends up becoming too unmanageably tall due to the winter light requirements, I’ll probably end up giving it away. But since it’s spiking, things are looking up!

[Jeff214]

OK, well I'm glad it's blooming.
If it ever becomes unmanageable, I'll give it a good home

Please share photos when it blooms!

[SaraJean]

And here’s some bloom pics, flowers seem to last about 10 days. This started to bloom on the 17th (first pic is from the 18th) and starting to fade now (second pic). Each of the bloom clusters are about the size of the palm of my hand

[Jeff214]

Thanks for the photos.

Shame that it only lasts 10 days! Contrast between the green and pink is very interesting.