I haven't the foggiest what this is: but it's certainly striking...!

24 September 2005
According to Christopher Lloyd, in his column for today's Guardian (as well as that of 14 October 2000, below)
-- 'The Expert Gardener' -- this is Fascicularia bicolor:

"An autumn-flowering plant that really should be known and enjoyed by more gardeners (plenty of nurseries offer it, after all)...,
the only hardy member of bromeliaceae, the pineapple family. Ours makes a low dome on the floor of our sunk garden,
but it would be equally at home in a rock garden or at the foot of a wall. The habit of the plant is to make a hummock of evergreen rosettes of saw-edged leaves.
When ready to flower, these turn a rich crimson red and open to reveal a central well, packed with a cushion of winking, baby-blue flowers.

"I hope I have made it sound sufficiently astonishing, not to say unlikely, because it is that."