Gold Bloom

Gold Bloom is a plant in Plants vs. Zombies 2. It is unlocked via the Epic Quests, which were introduced in the 4.6 update. It is an instant-use plant that produces 375 sun when planted.

Origins
Gold Bloom is based off of the Chrysogonum virginianum, also known as the Golden Star in English. Its name is a reference to Jeff Goldblum.

Almanac entry
Sun cost: 0

TOUGHNESS: Typical

RECHARGE: Very Slow

Gold Blooms produce a burst of sun all at once.

Usage: single use, instant

"Your botanists were so preoccupied with whether they could," says Gold Bloom, about nothing and to nobody in particular, "they didn't stop to think if they should."

Strategies
Gold Bloom is an extremely useful plant in many levels. The extra sun produced by Gold Bloom helps to get an early defense up and going. The main use of Gold Bloom is to use it right at the beginning of the level, so offensive plants can be placed earlier and such, which makes it a good choice in Endless Zones. However, Gold Bloom's recharge is the only negative aspect of this plant. It will take the player a long time to be able to plant this plant again. In some levels, they may not be able to be planted more than once. An easier method is to use the Imitater Gold Bloom to start the level with an additional 750 sun. Using Gold Bloom with Moonflower is also a good idea in Endless Zones if the player wants to use other shadow plants in conjunction with Moonflower, as Gold Bloom aids Moonflower's very poor Plant Food effect.

Using Instant Recharge on Gold Bloom is extremely effective, as it cuts down the time to wait to use Gold Bloom again. In addition, using Instant Recharge on Gold Bloom is more effective than using Plant Food on a sun producing plant (without the aid of Tile Turnip or Power Tiles), because Gold Bloom gives more sun (375 suns all at once, the highest amount of sun provided by Plant Food per sun-producing plant is 250 sun).

Avoid using Gold Bloom as the only sun producing plant, as the sun falling from the sky will be the player's only way of getting the sun while the player has to wait for Gold Bloom's very long recharge, thus affecting their plant setup more than having other sun-producing plants. Imitater may counter this, though it is better to use other sun-producing plants.

Trivia

 * Gold Bloom's Almanac entry is based on a quote from Jurassic Park said by Ian Malcom, the character Jeff Goldblum plays.
 * One of Penny's dialogues, "The Gold Bloom is unstuck in time" is a reference to Slaughterhouse-5, by Kurt Vonnegut.
 * One of Gold Bloom's costumes is a reference to this character.
 * Gold Bloom's sprites shows one of its costumes having Jeff Goldblum's hair, eyebrows, and glasses. In the game, only the glasses appear.
 * Like Power Lily, it will not activate when played after the last zombie is defeated.
 * Unlike Power Lily, giving Plant Food to Gold Bloom does not work.
 * Gold Bloom is the first plant to be obtained by a method which does not involve buying (with either real money or gems) or by beating a level in the main game.
 * Gold Bloom is also the first to be unlocked through quests.
 * Despite the fact that Gold Bloom's seed packet is in the style of Modern Day, its background in the Almanac and seed selection is in the style of premium plants.
 * However, its seed packet was originally going to have the same background as the seed packets for premium plants, with a normal white border. It is unknown why this was changed.
 * Gold Bloom takes 75 seconds before the player can use it again, making it have the longest recharge time, beating the other Very Slow recharge plants (Thyme Warp and Power Lily).
 * Strangely, the in-game advertisement for Gold Bloom appeared in the Android version of the game when it was soft released, even before the 4.6 update was properly out for players via Google Play.
 * Gold Bloom is one of the 5 plants to be fully recharged at the start of a level, the others being Sunflower, Sun-shroom, Primal Sunflower, and Moonflower.
 * Coincidentally, they are all sun-producing plants.
 * Gold Bloom gives 3 large suns and 3 regular suns upon use, for a total of 375 suns.
 * Somehow, its Epic Quest was released in the 4.5 update for a small number of devices. It was yet unknown if it was a glitch, due to the Epic Quests being unreleased to that version.
 * It can be used in all Sun Bomb levels, despite the fact that it is a sun-producing plant. This also applies to Sun Bean and Toadstool.
 * Not choosing Gold Bloom gives the message, "You haven't chosen any sun-producing plants, are you sure you want to continue?"
 * Gold Bloom's Almanac stats states its toughness is Typical, but in-game, it cannot be killed in any way.
 * Power Lily shares the same trait with Gold Bloom.