Inspired by Casey's lovely Eucomis banner and Cal's new found interest in these wonderful summer bulbs I thought we could brighten up winter a bit by discussing these pineapple lilies and our experiences of growing them.
I've always grown them in pots as they are borderline hardy here in the UK. The most commonly grown ones are autumnalis which is smaller with whiter flowers and bicolor with greener flowers. The purple leaved cultivars are much sought after.
Here's a photo of autumnalis from a couple of years ago when I still had a garden.

One of the gardens/nurseries near me always has a superb display of pots.

Hi Sue,

thanks so much for starting this thread! I'm really looking forward to seeing pics and "hearing"
the experiences of others who have this eye-catching plant.

I know my wife will love them, but won't tell her what they are or look like so she can be
amazed at them as they mature & bloom, hopefully in time for her birthday June 19.

Hope to have a nice colony in a few years.

Here is some info I found on Google....

Eucomis make superb feature plants in containers. Plant 3 bulbs into a pot 30cm (12in) across. Use a loam-based compost with extra grit added, ⅔ compost, ⅓ grit, making sure you have a pot deep enough to allow them to be planted at least 15cm deep.

What soil mix do you use?
Do you add some bulb food in the bottom?
Do you plant more than one per pot?
What size pot?

You can use regular potting compost that you would use to plant other bulbs or perennials. You can add some extra grit and bulb food would be fine in the planting hole. The size of pot depends on how many bulbs you have and the size of display you want. The bulbs will bulk up in time so you can start with 3-5. I'd plant them quite close together in a pot, 3 would do in a 12" pot and plant about 6 inches deep. They would also do well in borders in your area. Water well and feed when they are in active growth.
I'm not sure what the timing of the flowers would be in CA as they are quite late to put up foliage in late spring over here.
They really are bulbs for all areas - from the smaller ones which are about 12-15 inches tall to some that grow 3-4 feet in height. I like the foliage as well, particularly the purple leaved forms. They produce interesting seed heads as well.
Here's a fabulous group from Wallington Hall. I've left the photo uncropped to give you a good idea of the scale.

Maybe @JMorth will join in soon. He grows some very nice ones in pots.

Thank you Deebie.
I presently grow the following:






Here's a pic of 6 different pineapples at once (8-24-17)...it has the 5 listed above with an additional Giant Pineapple:


Size comparison of giant and autumnalis:


I grow all of mine in pots which are over-wintered dry in basement.
I'll add some more cultural notes to this thread later...

This is a great start!
Thank you for the pics & info.

I used to grow Eucomis 'Tiny Piny Opal'. It is a dwarf one, which I liked because I was still testing if it will truly endure our dry hot weather here.

It managed to bloom in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Unfortunately family events occurred so we have to be away for a month or so in the next couple of years, so I was not able to water it as it needs to during the peak of summer.

But it was truly nice when I saw it blooming in the years mentioned. In my area it starts to make new growth towards end of Spring to early Summer and blooming at the peak of summer, but it has to be watered frequently since it is just too bone dry here. Sometimes, if it failed in Spring, it will try to do the blooms in late summer to early Fall as temps go down from our extremely hot levels to comfortable warm temps.



Initially waking up in late May 2012

late June 2012

31July2012