Please identify this LivingTrends plant with a pink flower spike

Question

I recently bought a plant, because it was cheap, had a cool looking flower, and I hadn't ever tried to grow one before. I'm including a picture of the plant below. It is by a company called Living Trends Design. They do have a site, but only basic care instructions for each design they have. They sell some that are meant to hand, some that sit on your coffee table, and like this one it's a small pot with magnets on the back. I couldn't find the names of the plants, though I do have a tillandsia that I got from them. I'd really appreciate an ID of the plant if not the cultivar. Also, some care instructions and potting media info would be great, but if I know what it is, I'll be able to research it or ask another question. Thanks.

Answer 1

I never would have figured this out if not for that big pink flower spike. I thought it looked like a type of bromeliad bloom I had seen. So I did some searching for pink bromeliad blooms and found this. It is Tillandsia cyanea it's common name is Pink Quill.

Care: Light: It likes bright light, but it won't tolerate direct afternoon sun.

Soil: It needs well drained soil, a mix of potting soil and orchard medium would be effective.

Watering: Normally water when the soil is somewhat dry, and give it a deep watering until water flows out the bottom of the pot, but I don't think your pot appears to have drainage holes in the bottom. Ideally, it needs a better pot, but short term try to keep the watering a little lighter to avoid the soil staying soaked.

Being a tropical plant it won't do well if the temperature drops below 60 degrees Fahrenheit. When the flower spike dries up you can remove it. All Bromeliads I'm familiar with bloom only once, and the Pink Quill follows the rule. After it flowers it may produce one or several small new plants at the base of the plant. When these are about 3 inches tall you can split these from the parent plant, these may bloom once they establish themselves.