Rather like the agaves in habit. My understanding is that getting pups is far from guaranteed. Pretty amazing the way anything which catches our fancy can become successful, even if it could never survive without us as with the Platycodon 'Komchi'. [missouribotanicalgarden.org];

It will die but not quickly. There is a chance pups will emerge around its base. If not, I've got some shopping to do.

@MarkWD So if you started at 15 and lived to 91 you may see 5 bloomings in your lifetime?

@FrayedBear Well I do know people who grow lots of these. Last year I joined the Bromeliad Society of San Francisco because a garden designer friend of mine was giving the first talk on terrestrial bromeliads which he uses a lot. I was surprised that for many of them it was all about collecting plants as specimens and mostly in pots. For me it is all about the garden space we create. So I didn't rejoin this year. But I went on the annual tour of some member gardens and some were truly plant warehouses.

@MarkWD my few are potted because of tenancy laws here. I really only have them for their drought & heat tolerance.

@FrayedBear nothing against pots but some of these people are hoarders.

@MarkWD Are you aware that hoarding is frequently a compensation or substitute for previous trauma or lack of emotive satisfaction. The likes of Fox tv have turned it into the equivalent of the old freak show where people pay to laugh & deride at disabled or diseased & maimed members of society.
Saying you shouldn't hoard is often creating new stress and being a control freak not allowing others to have different beliefs, physical attributes or opinions.

Small world. Rolling over your avatar I read that you celebrated Lia's birthday at a park. My wife's name is Lia too. Is your Lia of Italian descent like mine?

@MarkWD Regards to your wife!
Lia's brother Giovanni is half Sicilian. They do not have the same father. Giovanni got to chose his little sister's name. By the way, both are blond and blue-eyed.