I am joining Jim and the SOS gang this sunny Saturday morning from my South Florida garden. Anyone who reads my blog eventually notices my love for Bromeliads. This Saturday I am focusing on the winter color in my garden from these super tough tropical plants. Visit Jim at https://gardenruminations.co.uk/
Bromeliads are native to the tropics and many of them hail from the Americas. Most that I grow are from Brazil. There are native Bromeliads in Florida, though many were collected to near extinction and are now protected. Tillandsias (Spanish moss and friends are the most common native to Florida) I see these native Bromeliads from time to time in state parks and relish sighting one. Native orchids met a similar fate.
I am not quite to the northern limit of growing Bromeliads in the garden, though most I grow here will not take any frost. When I first started gardening here the idea of having what I considered house plants in the garden seemed very odd. Now, not so much. My average low temperature is 40 F (4 C)
Jill Neoregelia climbing a palm trunk. Some Bromeliads will climb trees and some won’t. This one was planted at the base of a Christmas Palm and started up the trunk with no encouragement from me.
Martin Neoregelia started the change from winter to summer color. These are yellow and green striped in winter deepening to red in summer. The pink coloration lasts for a couple of months.
Silvery foliage of the Silver Urn Bromeliad. Aechmea fasciata. These are well known for their pink flowers. They bloom every other year in my garden.
I am very likely to buy unnamed Bromeliads at garage sales or garden shows as they are usually expensive elsewher and it is rare to find good directions on where to site the plants. This is a unnamed Neoregelia I have enjoyed, it is probably three feet wide.
Another garage sale find. I have no idea what this is – it flowers every winter. The flower is about four feet tall.
The very reliable February (Valentine’s!) bloomer. The flower of the Guzmania Bromeliad is starting to peek through.
The time to move Bromeliads in the garden ends in March. I am plotting relocations now to add some more of these tough beauties in new places…
Thanks to Jim for hosting and Happy Gardening!!
The Shrub Queen 
There are so many beautiful bromeliads, it is no wonder you are besotted. A nearby college conservatory has a nice collection, particularly some gorgeous Aechmea. Unfortunately, my house is too cool and dry in winter for tropicals, but I can enjoy yours!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Eliza. I am hopeless with houseplants.
LikeLike
I could be better myself. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am always surprised by the lengths people will go to for houseplants. They sell Bird of Paradise potting soil in the UK! And it is expensive, supposedly to make them flower indoors.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fab collection of bromeliads! For the leaves as well as the flowers… I’ve just checked my guzmania and tillandsia …without flower spikes (growing indoors and especially in a pot). Daylight increasing, I might get one soon
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Fred. I keep them in full shade here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
How lucky to have a yard full of bromeliads.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your planet is lovely Queen.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Flower,
LikeLike
Thank you for including all these, they are so different from anything we have here in our gardens, such a delight to see.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad you enjoyed them. A trip to a greenhouse would be necessary for you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lovely Bromelliads ❤ The do well in the tropics in Australia but I have not had any success with them, probably too cold.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It seems Sydney does well with broms. I would love to see them.
LikeLike
They look great, what a variety and interesting to see how many different forms they can take. Someone gave me one last summer and I’m liking it more and more as it grows!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, they are a fun plant to watch.
LikeLike
Bromeliads are a bit more common in coastal Southern California than they are here, but are not as happy as they are in more humid climates. Some so-called ‘landscaper’ installed a bunch of mixed bromeliads into a landscape in front of a business downtown years ago, and they looked horrible after only a month or so. I have no idea where he or she found so many, and can not imagine how much they cost. Bromeliads are one of those groups of plants that are enviable in Florida and Hawaii.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, they love a jungly place. A landscaper here plants them in a roadway median and they fry and look awful – they do this every year. I just don’t get it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, medians make it even worse, not only because of the toasty conditions there, but also because plants that require frequent maintenance should not be in situations that are so dangerous for the gardeners who maintain them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Absolutely. and they are just laying around burnt.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I never really thought about these plants before reading about them on your blog, so it is interesting to see the colour changes and their growth habits. I suspect the humidity plays an important role for them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
All the nutrients for the plant go into the cup in the middle, any frost would blow it up! Humidity is a plus for these plants.
LikeLiked by 1 person