Bromeliads - Red Berries Indoors and The Landscape

Aechmea ‘Alegria’ is a hybrid from Bullis Bromeliads. Alegria is in the Aechmea family and is one of the larger plants in this genus making it a great option for the landscape like around a pool possibly. It can reach heights and widths of 4 feet!.
When ‘Alergia’ blooms, a tall flower stalk full of bright red and pink berries stands tall above the foliage offering a real contrast between light green leaves.
Alegria can be used indoors as a house plant but will need a lot of bright light. The landscape probably will allow Aechmea ‘Alegria’ to show off it’s true potential in full sun! Finding a decorative container to compliment the plants is also a landscape option in a pool/ deck area.

Bromeliads - Lighting, from Full Sun to Kitchen

Bromeliads can handle a wide range of light exposure and intensities… everything from low light to full sun depending on the variety.
Your bromeliads will look much better when they receive the proper light levels. The “perfect” light level varies depending on the Bromeliad variety.
For example, Tillandsias and Aechmeas often carry a hard, thick gray-green coloring with “silver” or “fuzzy” hair-like scales on the outside. These varieties can withstand higher light levels than varieties like Guzmania with soft green leaves.
In your home, a window with a southern, eastern or western exposure should provide satisfactory light for a Bromeliad, but “watch out”… most varieties used as house plants must not be exposed to the direct sunrays.
Your Bromeliad will “talk” to you about the current state of the light it receives… if the plant leaves carry a yellowish or pale green look, the light level is most likely too high. On the flip side a darker than normal green with elongated or open leaves may mean the light level is too low.
Much of the light needs depend on variety. Thick, hard leaves will handle much more light than soft dark green varieties.

Bromeliads in Full Sun? Tips for Landscape Planting

There are some Bromeliads which can handle full sun… but they only tolerate this condition, it’s not always ideal. All Bromeliads prefer some mid day shade. However, if you’re planting in full sun here’s some tips to maintain the quality.

• 
  When possible plant during the cooler months (October to April) is best. This will give the Bromeliad time to acclimate to the hot summer sun. Planting during the summer months can cause bleached or burned foliage.
• Avoid planting near asphalt, white painted walls or over decorative "white" chips.
• Use mulch minimally… no more than one inch deep.
• Do not fertilize heavily in full sun, this will cause tender growth to burn easily.

Growing Bromeliads Outdoors Overview

Bromeliads can be used in the landscape in frost-free areas of the state or grown in containers that can be moved indoors in areas where freezes occur. Since bromeliads require minimal care, they are an asset in the landscape.

In south Florida, bromeliads can be grown outdoors unprotected during most winters. In this area, people enjoy bromeliads for their graceful and decorative foliage, flowers, and fruit year round.

Some bromeliads tolerate low temperatures. The graceful, spiny Bromelia penguin survives north Florida conditions, provided it is grown in a protected area. However, extreme cold temperatures will scorch and injure it. Cold damage to a few leaves will destroy the symmetry and beauty of the plant for a long time.

In areas where frost and freezing temperatures are common, covering with plastic or cloth may offer some protection. However, it is a extremely tedious job to cover the plants, and the covers are unsightly. In addition, mechanical breakage of leaves often occurs. A more practical way to prevent cold damage is to grow bromeliads in containers with a potting mix and sink the containers into the ground. When freezing temperatures are predicted, pull the containers out the ground and move them into a garage or other protected area. While indoors, the plants should receive some light during the daytime. When temperatures are above freezing and no more frosty nights are predicted, the plants can be placed back into the landscape and mulched to hide the pot edges.

Growing Bromeliads Indoors Overview

Bromeliads are excellent indoor plants. They have colorful, long-lasting inflorescence and some have brilliantly colored foliage as well. Bromeliads also readily adapt to the unfavorable growing conditions that exist in most homes.

Although many bromeliads are epiphytic, living on branches and trunks of trees or on rocks in their native habitat, most can be grown in containers. Clay and plastic pots are equally satisfactory as containers unless plants are large, in which case the heavier clay pot is more stable. Because plastic pots retain moisture longer than clay pots, plants grown in the former need watering less frequently than those in the latter. Epiphytic bromeliads can also be grown in perforated plastic baskets and clay pots like those used for other epiphytic plants such as orchids.

Because bromeliads rarely have extensive roots, relatively small pots are adequate for most plants. The larger varieties can usually be brought to flowering in 5 to 7-inch pots. Terrestrial plants do not have to be moved into larger pots until their roots completely fill the current container. Move young epiphytes into pots one size larger every spring, however, until the maximum convenient pot size has been reached.

Some epiphytic bromeliads, such as the gray-scaled Tillandsia, grow poorly if planted in a conventional potting mixture. They grow best in a medium such as tree-fern bark, cork-oak bark, or on a tree-fern slab, or pieces of wood. To mount a plant on one of these materials, wrap the base of the plant (including roots, if any) in sphagnum moss, and tie the wrapped base to its support by winding plastic-coated wire around the moss and the supporting material. Fasten the ends of the wire firmly but in such a way that it can be easily untied. Hang the mounted specimens in a convenient place. Spray the sphagnum moss and plant with water frequently enough to prevent complete drying of the moss.

After supportive roots grow over the sphagnum moss and around the mount, remove the temporary wire. To keep the plant alive and healthy, water the plant, its roots, and the supportive materials twice weekly throughout the year. Water can be applied as a spray or the entire mounted plant can be submerged in water for a few minutes. The humidity around plants will influence their need for water. The humidity in a home which is heated during the winter months or cooled with air-conditioning during the summer months can be very low and plants may need to be watered more frequently than those grown in a moist environment.

Bromeliad Classification Overview

The bromeliad family (Bromeliaceae) consists of 51 genera and about 1,500 strictly American species. They grow from the dry deserts of southwestern United States to equatorial tropical rain forests. Based on growth habits and other characteristics, Bromeliaceae is divided into the subfamilies Pitcairnioideae, Tillandsioideae and Bromelioideae.

Members of the subfamily Pitcairnioideae are mainly terrestrial plants with heavy spines on their leaf edges. They grow in soil or on rocks and do not have a leaf rosette that traps water. The genera belonging to this subfamily commonly cultivated are Dyckia, Hechtia, Pitcirnia and Puya.

The subfamily Tillandsioideae contains the least number of genera but the largest number of species, of which many are cultivated. Plants in this group have smooth or entire leaf margins, unusual foliage markings and colors. Some species produce fragrant flowers. Plants in the genera Guzmania, Tillandsia and Vriesea are the more commonly cultivated members of this subfamily.

Bromelioideae, the third subfamily, has the most bromeliad genera grown as garden and interior plants. It encompasses 30 genera with the widest range of plant forms, and accordingly the largest number of cultivated species. Subfamily members are mostly epiphytic, leaf edges are almost all spiny, foliage has attractive markings and patterns, and the leaves are usually arranged in rosettes which may be cup-shaped. Aechmea, Billbergia, Cryptanthus, Neoregelia and Nidularium are the most popular genera of this subfamily.

Commonly Cultivated Genera

• Aechmea. Most of the 150 species in this genus are epiphytic, have deep cups to hold water and outstanding foliage all year long. The leaf edges are spined and the inflorescence are spectacular. Aechmea fasciata, one of the most popular bromeliads, is often called the urn or living vase plant because it appears to have provided a vase for its predominately pink inflorescence.
• Ananas. The commercial edible pineapple (Ananas comosus) is a member of this genus. There is a variegated form of this species (Ananas comosus variegatus) that has green, cream and pink striped leaves that form rosettes 2 feet or more across. There is a smaller species, Ananas nanus, that is commonly grown as an interior plant. It has arching, 12 to 15-inch grayish-green leaves surrounding a 15- inch spike of red buds resembling a pincushion. The buds open into purple flowers which are followed by a 2-inch high, fragrant, edible pineapple.
• Billbergia. Billbergias are tall and urn-shaped with spiny edged leaves. They are usually epiphytic and the foliage is often attractively variegated, banded or mottled. Although short-lived, inflorescence are very colorful.
• Cryptanthus. These plants are small, terrestrial, sometimes stoloniferous with flat, basal, symmetrically arranged, variously colored mottled or stripped leaves. They are grown mainly as foliage plants but their tiny white flowers, emerging low in the cups, are very attractive. Plants of this genus are commonly referred to as “earth stars” because their leaves grow low and parallel to the ground in a star-like arrangement. The species Cryptanthus bivattatus and several of its cultivators are among the most widely grown for use as interior plants.
• Guzmania. Bromeliads in this genus have thin, glossy, strap-like, smooth-edged leaves which form a water-holding rosette. There are thin brown, purple or maroon lines which run parallel along the length of the leaves. Clusters of red, white or yellow flowers appear from behind orange, yellow or red bracts on a terminal spike. They are mostly epiphytic, however, a few are terrestrial.
• Neoregelia. These epiphytic bromeliads develop blue or white flowers just above the water level in the cup. The central portion of the leaves surrounding the flowers turn rosy red. The spiny-edged leaves may also have red spots and markings. Some of the species develop red leaf tips and are often called “painted fingernail.”
• Nidularium. Plants in this genus are often confused with those in the genus Neoregelia. They both have bird’s nest type flower heads; however, Nidularium inflorescence shows the bracts rather distinctly while the inflorescence is buried in the leaf rosette of Neoregelia. These medium-sized, epiphytic plants have broad, flexible, lightly spined leaves that form an open rosette.
• Tillandsia. With nearly 400 species this genus is the largest, most diverse and widely distributed genus in the bromeliad family. Most are epiphytic, except for a few species that grow on rocks. Plant species vary in size from tiny to large. Some species have leaves that are tough and string-like; others have soft, thin, strap-like leaves. In still others the lower part of the leaf is spoon shaped. Often, the leaves are covered with a gray fuzz or scales. The inflorescence is spectacular in some species consisting usually of blue flowers with brightly colored bracts.
• Vriesea. With more than 200 species this genus is the second largest but most hybridized and cultivated genus in the bromeliad family. These are medium size, mostly epiphytic plants with soft or firm, variously green but often spotted, blotched or distinctly marked leaves. The usually long-lasting inflorescence have yellow, green or white flowers and brightly colored bracts. The inflorescence may be upright like a spear, pendulous or even curved. Plants in this genus are very susceptible to injury from cold temperatures.

source = http://www.bromeliads.info/

Tillandsia (air plants)

Tillandsia's... or air plants, have the greatest number of species (over four hundred) and the widest range of any other bromeliad family.

They are found as far north as the Mid Atlantic States, and way below Brazil. Ranging in size of one inch, to over 14 feet tall.

Tillandsia useneoides, (Spanish Moss or Pele's Hair) is one of the most widely recognized bromeliad (and the oldest) other than the Pineapple.

This family is unique in many ways. Tillandsias require little care... but must have a lot of air movement. Many species will grow on trays without any type of potting mix. They can be mounted on wood... rocks, and a few can grow in a pot with potting mix in it.

You must have a lot of patience to grow tillandsais from seed. It is not uncommon to take eight to ten years before you see a mature plant from germination to bloom.