(Skyflower, Variegated Golden Dewdrop)

Golden dewdrop is a vigorous large broadleaf evergreen shrub native to tropical America. The cultivar ‘Variegata’ has drooping clusters of tubular, white-edged, pale blue flowers that appear when growing conditions are favorable and attract butterflies. Dangling chains of orange-yellow fruits succeed the flowers. The toothed, glossy leaves are green, irregularly edged with white. Branches do have thorns. The overall shape is weeping when mature.

This shrub does best in well-drained average soil...

(Hybrid Dyckia)

Succulent in its rigid, spined leaves, this arid bromeliad resembles a perfectly shaped aloe. This hybrid has Dyckia platyphylla in its lineage, and forms a perfectly domed rosette that eventually multiplies into a large thicket-cluster of plants.

Each leaf of 'Carlsbad' is a wide and long lance and emanates outward from the center. Colored a glossy medium to bright, the leaf edges are sharply teethed and the underside is pale gray-green. In summer's warmth, mature plants send up a tall...

(Hybrid Dyckia)

Blend cherry red color with the deep brown of Coca-Cola and you'll understand why this hybrid cultivar of dyckia received its name. This cross between Dyckia platyphylla and Dyckia 'Carlsbad' forms a spidery rosette that eventually multiplies into a large cluster of plants.

Each leaf is a long pointed lance and emanates outward from the center. Colored a glossy dark red to olive-green, the leaf edges are sharply teethed and the underside is a dull gray. In summer's warmth, mature...

(Sawblade)

Cute and rounded, the rosette of this dryland succulent bromeliad truly looks like a miniature aloe. Native to northern Argentina and southern Brazil, sawblade forms a rounded rosette that eventually suckers, multiplying into a large, low mounding cluster of plants.

Each short leaf is a rigid but water-storing spear. Medium to bright green, the leaf edges are evenly lined with tiny silvery white teeth. In summer's warmth, mature plants send up a tall flower spike that reveals many small lemon...

(Dyckia)

This bromeliad will definitely fool you, since you'll be determined to call it a species of agave. A large and handsome plant, the highland dyckia hails from central and southern Brazil and adjacent northeastern Argentina. Its leaves are rigid and will curl and bend as needed for best reception of sunlight. This bromeliad usually is in a loose cluster of two to three others, flopping and twisting in the rocky outcroppings where it grows.

Leaves are long and lined in small spines. Medium green...

(Dyckia)

Beautiful in is unfriendly, spined foliage, Foster's dyckia is a tropical arid bromeliad that is worth growing, truly one of the finest of all in the genus Dyckia. Native to southeastern Brazil, it forms a perfect, tight rosette that eventually multiplies into a dense, mounded cluster with scores of plants.

The narrow leaves are silvery green and are both arching and curved as they radiate out from the plant center. The edges are scalloped and lined with tiny teeth that are lighter silvery...

(Dyckia)

Wild imagination? Admire this bromeliad long enough and you'll become creative director for a production of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" or "Little Shop of Horrors". Native to southern Brazil, Dyckia mariner-lapostollei has architecturally magnificent leaves, although hardly monstrous in size. Many consider this the most beautiful species of Dyckia and it slowly multiplies to form a small clump of plants.

Fat and wide, each lance-like leaf often recurves and twists and has...

(Dyckia)

Perhaps you'll think you have encountered an interesting new species of aloe or century plant when you first see the multi-colored, spiny leaves of this arid bromeliad. Native to eastern Brazil, Dyckia platyphylla forms a spreading rosette that eventually multiplies into a massive, mounded cluster of plants.

Each leaf is a long triangle and emanates outward from the center. Colored a glossy deep green, the leaf edges are sharply teethed and blush a brownish bronze. The undersides are...

(Dyckia)

Hooked leaves on this rosetted plant may find you calling it an aloe, but not so fast! Native to Uruguay and southern Brazil, Dyckia remotiflora forms a dense rosette that eventually multiplies into a rounded cluster of plants.

Each leaf is a long curving spear, emanating outward from the center. Satin-glossed and dark green, the spines on the leaf margins are silvery, as are the leaf undersides which are covered in scales. In late spring, mature plants send up a short, branched flower...

(Silver Carpet)

The dense mat of gray-green and white foliage created by silver carpet is its most notable feature. In its native South Africa, this low, mat-forming perennial naturally resides in the Western Cape Province of Southern Overberg. There it can be found along sandy coastal flats. It withstands both heat and drought, so it has quickly become a popular garden plant in areas with drier landscapes, like the American southwest. Its short, narrow leaves are gray-green above and downy white underneath. Yellow...