Bromeliads, Your New Plant Obsession
I say tropical, and you think… what? Seriously, what are the first two words that come to mind? I’ll give you a second.
Now let me guess. Were your words along the lines of “hot” and “wet”? If so, you aren’t alone, but the truth is that you don’t need heat or tons of water to grow your own tropical garden.
I’m Tyson, and I’m here to assure you that your dream of a drought-tolerant, cool weather tropical paradise is well within reach. In particular, I’m here to champion bromeliads as a beautiful low-water design element.
The bromeliad’s rosette form contributes a tropical vibe to your garden design (indoors or out), but also will function much in the same way as an agave, adding a bold structural element to complement fine-leaved plants. Bromeliads are visually compelling when combined with other rosettes, such as palms, aloes, yuccas, and many succulents.
One aspect of tropical garden design is to really fill up your space with plants, and bromeliads are great for this. In pots, you can tuck them in under your main plantings as fillers. Grow them in a vertical garden or mount them on a tree or wall to create even more volume. Their ability to grow just about anywhere makes them especially useful in small urban gardens.
While bromeliads do evoke the tropics, most of them are as drought-tolerant as our favorite soft-leaved succulents, which like to approach dryness. Since they are epiphytes (grow on trees) or lithophytes (grow in rock cracks), bromeliads have very shallow roots that are well-adapted to drying out. They also have funnel-shaped leaves that catch rainfall. In nature the “tanks” at the base of bromeliad leaves store water and can nurture an entire ecosystem, with frogs living out generations of life cycles inside the plant.
Most bromeliads for California are selected from the high altitude tropics, where mild mountain cloud forests mirror Coastal California's marine influence zones (Sunset Zones 16, 17, 21-24). Most bromeliads we sell will tolerate a light frost, but they’ll succumb to hard frosts or withering dry heat.
Here is how we care for our bromeliads at Terracotta Tropic:
Bromeliads love pots with good drainage; we recommend cactus mix. They will grow very large even in a small pot. They can also be mounted or grown in the crotch of a tree; in this case use sphagnum moss or orchid bark secured with burlap, shredded coco coir or even an old cotton T-shirt. If planting bromeliads in the soil, be sure to add 50% drainage (pumice or lava rock) to the native soil, and don't plant at all if your soil is clay. Mounding can also help, but avoid windy spots where they will blow over.
Bromeliads are happiest on the dry side. Seriously, think of watering them like you would soft-leaved succulents! Never let the soil stay soggy or the roots may rot out. While bromeliads tolerate winter rains filling their crowns, we don't recommend top watering (where you fill the plant’s “tanks” from above, by pouring water directly over the crown).
Bromeliads aren't particularly hungry, so you can fertilize them sparingly, or not at all. If you would like to fertilize, bromeliads are adaptable to various fertilizers, but don't like them at full strength. We recommend either an all-purpose fertilizer or acidic fertilizer applied at half strength.
Bromeliads live happily indoors or out.
Indoor care specifics:
Bromeliads appreciate a partial direct to bright indirect light position. Place them in hot direct sun and you risk scorching the leaves; in too little light, they might fail to grow.
Every couple of months, as dust accumulates, gently spray off your plants outdoors or in a shower. Be careful, as a harsh blast from a hose can damage their delicate leaves. Tilt them to drain the water from tanks before returning them to their homes.
Outdoor care specifics:
Outdoors, plant your bromeliads in part sun to part shade, though many do thrive in full direct sun or very bright dappled light. In the Bay Area, they will tolerate more sun, while in Southern California they will likely appreciate some shade, especially if grown inland, where the humidity drops and temperatures rise. Typically the bromeliads with thinner, greener, darker leaves do better in shade. Those with lighter, more colorful leaves do better in the sun.
Flush any debris out of the tanks every few months with a hose, as detritus accumulation can cause crown rot. Try to plant bromeliads in an area where they won't receive much litter in their tanks; under an eave is much better than under an oak tree.
I’m hoping you’ll join us in our love for bromeliads and use them to achieve your tropical garden aspirations. Their form is flawless in design and they thrive with less heat and with less water than their lush tropical look would suggest.
This article was written in partnership with Flora Grubb Gardens.