Bromeliads Houseplants That Anyone Can Grow

The members of the pineapple tribe are making a new mark in the world. This is not for culinary distinction but for the charm. 

Their hold lines and bizarre markings lend the decor of the modern home interior and, in mild climates, the garden.

History of Pineapple

The familiar pineapple (Ananas comosus) has been known to mankind from the early days of the Spanish explorers, who brought it back to 15th-century Europe as one of their important discoveries. 

The pineapple’s popularity led to the plant’s common name, but the later-given scientific name, bromeliad, honors the Swedish botanist Olaf Bromel. 

Pineapples are truly American. The entire group, like cacti, is New World in origin. There are terrestrial kinds, which grow in soil, and epiphytic types, also known as air plants, because they grow on other plants.

Culture of Terrestrial Bromeliads

Most of the terrestrial bromeliads are of desert origin and thrive in soil similar to that used for cacti and succulents—a mixture of equal parts soil, sand, leaf mold, one-half part crushed rock or cinders, and one-quarter part old, well-rotted cow manure. 

Even though this mixture contains a large portion of drainage material, filling one-quarter of the container with broken pot chips or gravel is advisable. This makes it impossible for roots to stay wet too long.

Potting Requirements

In their native habitat, epiphytic bromeliads grow like orchids on trees, in decayed leaves or other organic matter, which collects in tree crevices or the crotches of branches. 

It is not strange, therefore, that the potting soil they need is similar to that used in growing orchids—two parts orchid peat (osmunda fiber) or orchid bark (crushed redwood or fir bark), one part leaf mold, and one-half part well-rotted manure. 

Epiphytic bromeliads, even more than the terrestrial types, need good drainage, so it is essential to place gravel or pot chips on the bottom of the container.

The best containers have openings around the sides and on the bottom, similar to orchid pots. All bromeliads should be potted firmly, without large air spaces in the potting mixture. 

Ideal Conditions

Bromeliads give the best results in temperatures from 65° to 85° degrees Fahrenheit during the day and between 50° to 60° degrees Fahrenheit at night. They need both light and good air circulation. 

Direct sunlight can cause leaf burn on some epiphytic types, but the terrestrial bromeliads will soak up as much sunshine as they can the year around.

Air circulation is a must. Ventilate frequently, taking care to avoid direct cold drafts in the winter. If the pots are placed on shelves or if they are suspended, air will circulate freely. 

Watering and Care

Be careful not to overwater bromeliads. They flourish in humid air but do not like excessively wet roots. 

Most of the epiphytic bromeliads collect water in the rosette of leaves, which form a tubular, vase-like base, from which comes the name vase-plant.

In the wild, this leaf rosette acts as a natural vase, collecting rainwater for the plant to absorb gradually as needed. 

In the greenhouse or at home, water may be applied to the rosette of leaves and the soil, but be careful to empty the “vases” occasionally to allow them to dry out. Brown leaf tips or yellow, bleached foliage is usually a sign of overwatering. 

Propagation

Many bromeliads are easily grown from seeds or offsets, which form at the base of the parent plant. When only a few additional plants are desired, the offsets or suckers will be sufficient. 

The suckers may have been removed by cutting them from the mother plant with a sharp knife. In many cases, the new offset may already have roots, and the young plant will carry on. 

Seed Is Slow 

Bromeliad propagation from seeds is time-consuming but will give a large number of plants. Spread the seeds on cleansing tissues or blotters, which are kept moist in covered glass dishes.

With the help of some water and diluted plant food, the seedlings can remain in the dish containers for more than a year, when they will reach transplanting size.

There are hundreds of interesting and colorful bromeliads from which you can choose specimens for your collection. The following are some of the most outstanding. 

Aechmea Fasciata

Aechmea fasciata is one of the oldest bromeliads in cultivation. It has light green leaves with silver bands and produces pink thistle-like flower heads with blue flowers. 

Aechmea fasciola variegata is a variegated form with long stripes of creamy ivory on the foliage. Both are epiphytic.

Aechmea Foster’s Favorite

Aechmea Foster’s Favorite inherited a great many characteristics from one of its parents, Aechmea Racine. The main difference is in the color of the leaves. 

It has wine-red, lacquer-shiny leaves. The flower spike is a pendant with orange-red berries on which the blue-to-purple flowers are perched. 

Epiphytic Aechmea fulgens discolor sports grayish-green leaves, the backs of which are silvery powder purple. 

It has a brilliant red flower spike, with red berrylike flower heads tipped with blue to purple petals. (Epiphytic). 

Aechmea Miniata Discolor

Aechmea miniata discolor, one of the most popular bromeliads, has olive-green leaves, with maroon-purple hacks and brilliant red flower spikes, which hold dense flower heads with bluish lilac blooms perched on top of red-orange berries. (Epiphytic).

Aechmea Orlandiana

Aechmea Orlandiana is outstanding for its exotic foliage. The yellow-green leaves are banded irregularly with bizarre dark brown marks. 

While the rosette is compact at its base, the leaves are gracefully pendant towards their ends. The almost black spines add to their attractiveness. (Epiphytic).

Aechmea Weilbacher

Aechmea Weilbacher has glossy foliage and graceful flowers. The shiny leaves are maroon at the base, where they shade from copper to olive green at the tips. 

The loosely formed flower spike, decorated with crimson bracts, hears many lavender blossoms. (Epiphytic).

Ananas Comosus

Ananas comosus (sativus), the familiar pineapple, makes a handsome rosette of grayish-green leaves, which redden in the full sun. 

The strong flower stem rises from the center of the leaf rosette, producing a dense flower head that looks like a pine cone with violet flowers. Therefore, the name pineapple. 

A variegated form of A. comosus has ivory leaves that are striped with green and rose red. (Terrestrial).

Billbergia Pyramidalis

Billbergia pyramidalis is an old-time favorite in collections because of its dense head of lovely blue flowers with striking rose-red bracts. 

The light yellow-green, glossy leaves form a perfect “vase-plant.” (Epiphytic).

Billbergia Fantasia

Billbergia Fantasia, a hybrid of B. saundersii and B. pyramidalis, has coppery green leaves blotched with white and pink. The flower spike is decorated | with rose bracts and blue flowers.

Cryptanthus Zonatus Zebrinus

Cryptanthus zonatus zebrinus is being grown commercially on a large scale. It can be used equally well as a single plant specimen or grown with other plants in dish gardens or similar arrangements. 

The wavy leaves are purple-bronze with golden cross-bands on top and silvery ones on the reverse side like the stripes of a zebra. This bromeliad grows in a terrestrial as well as an epiphytic mixture.

Dyckia Brevifolia

Since it grows well under succulent conditions, Dyckia brevifolia (sulfured), a south Brazilian desert plant, is often included in succulent collections. 

The stiff rosette is densely formed of strong spiny leaves, and the deep sulfur-yellow flowers are produced in great numbers. (Terrestrial).

Guzmania Zahnii

Guzmania zahnii comes from Colombia and has long been a favorite for both its flowers and foliage.

The leaves are thin and shiny, reddish at the base and shading to yellowish-green at their pointed tips. 

Pencil-fine longitudinal lines of maroon make them especially colorful. The flowers are cream-colored on a flower spike covered with bracts ranging from golden yellow to orange-red. (Epiphytic). 

Neoregelia Spectabilis “Fingernail” Plant

Neoregelia spectabilis, the “fingernail” plant, is native to Brazil. The common name comes from the bright red leaf tips resembling a lady’s painted fingernails. 

The purple flowers sit on a dense, pin-cushion flower head.

Neoregelia Marmorata

Neoregelia marmorata is similar to N. spectabilis but with leaves blotched with maroon. Both are epiphytic as well as terrestrial.

Tillandsia Lindeniana

Tillandsia lindeniana from Ecuador and Peru has showy violet to purple flowers on a dense, fiat, feather-shaped flower head of rose-pink color. The leaves are narrow, incurved, and marked with pencil-fine lines. (Epiphytic).

Vriesia Hieroglyphica

Vriesia hieroglyphica has long been well known here and abroad as the queen of the bromeliads. It has been grown commercially from seed for many years.

The strong, leathery leaves are marked with irregular, reddish-brown lines resembling Egyptian hieroglyphics. (Epiphytic).

Vriesea Splendens “Flaming Sword”

Vriesea splendens, the “flaming sword,” is a splendid species prized both for its flowers and foliage.

The light green leaves have a bluish tint, and brownish-purple crossbands are on top and underneath, where the coloring is more intense. 

The bright yellow flowers, although small, are showy, perched on the sword-like flower stem covered with bright orange-red bracts. (Epiphytic).

Images:

Cryptanthus beuckeri, C.. zonatus, C. z. zebrinus are unusual bromeliads known for their fascinating forms and interesting leaf markings. 

Styles in plants are always changing. Popular as house plants a few decades ago were rubber plants, ferns, and palms. Today, their place has been taken by dieffenbachias, dracenas, and the wide assortment of adaptable philodendrons, not to mention bromeliads, like the fascinating array pictured above. 

Demanding little care and growing under such conditions as dry air and subdued light, bromeliads are quickly climbing to the top as foliage plants for the living room, the study, the den, the TV room, or wherever plants are grown indoors or in the home greenhouse.

For the collector, bromeliads are ideal because they come in various forms and shapes, making collecting them a fascinating and absorbing hobby. 

Furthermore, they do not, for the most part, take much space, and it is possible to concentrate on small plants in the manner of cacti, which many hobbyists also like to collect.

Moreover, to a great extent, bromeliads also flower during the winter, when their blooms, often as bizarre and intriguing as the foliage markings and forms, will brighten up plant rooms and windows at a time of year when color is especially desired. 

Perhaps you might start a flower-loving friend on this hobby or take it up yourself. You’ll find it rewarding.

This large and colorful dried winter bouquet by Ruth Gannon is composed of annual statice, goldenrod, astilbe, joe-pye-weed, dill, yarrow, larkspur, and seed pods of nigella or love-in-the-mist. 

Arranged in a French copper lavabo shows what can be accomplished with familiar flowers and plants gathered from gardens and fields. This elegant composition will be attractive and inviting for many long months during the cold winter period, adding color and warmth indoors when most needed.

44659 by Walter Singer