I’m always stunned when something sneaks up on me in the garden. Not a snake or a bear, but a plant.  I mean, I walk around the garden daily — as I’m sure all of you do — and I like to think that I notice most of what’s happening among the plants.

And then this happens — a bloom that wasn’t there yesterday is here today.

This particular flower, though, is a big deal for me. While other bromeliads around the garden have had blooms deep within their cups, this is the first of my bromeliads to send up a flower spike.

I originally purchased this plant from a nursery, where I found it packed in a pot with five pups. In other words, $35 gave me six plants — and the plant that’s now in bloom is the mother bromeliad.

The mo-bro, if you will.

After separating and planting the pups and mother, the mo-bro produced three more babies. I’ve since separated these and planted them. That’s nine plants for $35 if you’re counting — and number 10 is sprouting at the base.

Since I’m still a student of the bro thing, I really thought the mother’s flowering days were long gone. Let that be a lesson to us all — never doubt a strong mo-bro.