BROMELIADS

[Tassie_Troy1971]

I want to get some to plant around my palms !

[peachy]

I have dozens of different broms but none of them are named so I dont know what species they are. I found them all to be pretty tough (bar one) and they seem to survive just about everything anywhere. I would say just buy some pretty ones that catch your eye and go for it.

Peachy

[Dave-Vero]

Aren't you a bit cool for some broms? Here's

Aechmea mariae-reginae at my place. They grew about 8 years before flowering.

[ariscott]

There are a lot of nice broms.... I am just not sure about their cold tolerance.

Regards, Ari

[devo_2006]

If you are protected from the frost, then broms should do OK.

Here are a few Vriesea, Alcantarea, & Neo's, which all do well outside year round here in Auckland. The palm on the left is an Euterpe edulis, & it does struggle during the cold wet winters.

And in another area of the garden, more Neo's with a large Alcantarea imperialis Rubra, beside a Dypsis clump.

Why not try a few this summer, then they will have a few months to adapt to your conditions before next winter.

Cheers, Andrew.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

If you are protected from the frost, then broms should do OK.

Here are a few Vriesea, Alcantarea, & Neo's, which all do well outside year round here in Auckland. The palm on the left is an Euterpe edulis, & it does struggle during the cold wet winters.

And in another area of the garden, more Neo's with a large Alcantarea imperialis Rubra, beside a Dypsis clump.

Why not try a few this summer, then they will have a few months to adapt to your conditions before next winter.

Cheers, Andrew.

Love that big purple one wow !

I hardly ever get below 0 C so that Wont be a problem

[peachy]

Andrew your garden is so beautiful. And a great collection of lovely broms of course. If the E. edulis is suffering try a E. edulis orange crownshaft. They are from Argentina and very cold tolerant.

Peachy

[JD in the OC]

Can't go wrong with broms... there's so much variety. From the tiny Neo dungsiana to the monster Alc. imperialis!

[Rusty on Pine Is.]

Andrew, what a beautiful collection....well, a hard act to follow ( ), but here is my o so humble offering....... pic 1 is some Neo Fireball mounted on a limb over one of the ponds, and 2 is of Aec. Mend and Neo Lamberts pride.

[Rusty on Pine Is.]

...and these.... lots of Neo's, a cross of Hohenbergia and Aechmia in the backround with a Billy (bilbergia) mounted in an Archo Alex........ and a Vrisia species from Brazil mounted in a Foxtail......

[Rusty on Pine Is.]

...and last, a Neo Sunkist, and some pretty Vrisias in flower.......i am very late appreciating broms, but they really perk up the palm collection......guess it helps that i work for a brom and orchid retailer.......

[Gbarce]

Planted 2 varieties in 2 big bowls.

This one is a kind of Aechmea I guess. Not sure which cultivar.

[Gbarce]

This one is Neoreglia 'purple heart'. This is one of my favorites. Really wide leaves and a tight compact form.

They are prolific producers of pups too.

[aussiearoids]

I like the large species Aechmea as well as Hohenbergia .

Pictured here is Hohenbergia catingeae var. eximbricata .

[aussiearoids]

This is one of the Aechmea disticantha var. Many of these are very cold hardy , I have seen a few coming from sellers in Victoria . This is flowering now and very impressive .

[aussiearoids]

Infl. is out much further now , will get a pic in the mornin' .

Other is Orthophytum disjunctum , sadly one of the spp. that does not get pups on the infloresence like some others I grow.

[Kim]

Planted 2 varieties in 2 big bowls.

This one is a kind of Aechmea I guess. Not sure which cultivar.

Those big bowls are wonderful -- are they glazed ceramic? I think that's Aechmea nudicaulis albo-marginata, looks nice in a mass planting like that. Those neos really thrive in your climate, such perfect form!

[Gbarce]

Kim -Thanks for the aechmea ID

the big bowls are just made of concrete so are relatively cheap considering their size. They use to be "mini fish ponds" but I've punched holes in most of them to use as post for specimen plants. They do keep things nice and neat and separated.

As for growing the broms nicely - you just have to position them in a location where the get even sun exposure on all sides-- so that means away from walls or trees. And the next thing is NEVER move them -- they have their own internal gyrosope and they orient the positioning of their leaves by this. Don't move them for about a year ( that is harder than it sounds) and they should develop that perfect form you are looking for. Be sure to use heavy pots so they don't tip over.

Some varieties should be cold tolerant enough for SoCal. Over here neoregelias actuall develope more intense colors in cooler areas

[amazondk]

There are some nice bromeliads there. I used to collect a lot of bromeliads, especially when I lived in São Paulo in the early 90s. Many of them I took to Florida in 1996 when I moved back there. And, only a few found there way back to Brazil. This one is from a parent that I collected on the coast of Sao Paulo around 1992. I have a few of them growing at our country place. Also, in the mountains of Sao Paulo where the temperature gets down to 0 C there are plenty of bromeliads growing in habitat on the trees. So, if you looked for these they would all work where it is colder. I used to have some nice vriesias from there.

dk

[aussiearoids]

Now fully open this Aechmea disticantha var. disticantha should be very cold hardy .

[palmmermaid]

Don,

I have some of those you brought back to the states in my garden. Amazing how things get around.

Here are some A. blancettianas under one of my coconut palms. They get full western sun exposure, withstood frost 3 times last year, and still look beautiful. They just glow.