Bromeliads are finally getting the attention they deserve.
Until recently, they were only popular with a small segment of houseplant enthusiasts. Today, bromeliads are prized tropical treasures in many Southwest Florida landscapes and public and private gardens. Featuring a wide range of colors, leaf shapes and textures, bromeliads are as beautiful as they are hardy. If you’re looking for beautiful, exotic-looking tropical plants that are easy to care for and drought tolerant, look no further than bromeliads.
Bromeliads are in the Bromeliaceae family, which is native mainly to the tropical Americas. The pineapple is one of the most popular bromeliads and is a major food crop industry. Bromeliads range in size from minuscule Spanish moss to the 30-feet-tall Puya raimondii. There are thousands of varieties of bromeliads, making them an ideal fit for any spot in your garden. Some produce upright flower spikes, while others produce tiny flowers inside their water well (cup). Similarly, some have a faint scent, while others are heavily fragrant.
Bromeliads only bloom once. After blooming, the mother plant slowly dies, sometimes taking up to two years. But don’t despair, because bromeliads continually reproduce new plants (called pups) on the outer perimeter at their bases year after year. The pups can be removed when they are about one-third of their mother’s size.
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