Species

Sapphire Tower

Puya alpestris

Puya alpestris ‘Sapphire Tower’ is a bold, architectural bromeliad grown as much for attitude as for beauty. It forms a dense rosette of stiff, silvery-green leaves edged with small hooks, giving it a sharp, armored look even when it is not in bloom. When mature, it throws up a tall flower spike packed with unusually luminous blue-green flowers that seem almost metallic, with bright orange anthers adding a strange electric contrast. It looks like something halfway between a desert weapon and a jeweled torch.