Bromeliads

How to choose a bromeliad

Decide what job the plant has to do. For a single dramatic specimen, the giant bromeliad (Alcantarea imperialis) forms a rosette up to 2m tall and 1.5m across with broad, arching, grey-green leaves, and the Rubra form flushes burgundy in sun. Alcantarea extensa is the smaller cousin at about 1.2m, easier to place in a courtyard. For flowers, the silver urn plant (Aechmea fasciata 'Silver Plum') carries a pink bract spike above banded silver leaves for months. For ground cover and pots, Neoregelia Fireball stays around 20cm, colours deep red in bright light and multiplies by runners into a solid clump.

Where bromeliads work

Most bromeliads grow naturally on trees and rocks, so they want light, air and sharp drainage rather than rich soil. Filtered light or morning sun suits the alcantareas and aechmeas; the neoregelias colour best in bright light with a few hours of direct sun. They are happiest in the subtropics and tropics, in Brisbane, the northern rivers, Cairns and Darwin, where they grow outdoors in gardens, pots, on tree trunks and in the gaps of a rock wall. In Sydney and Perth they thrive in sheltered gardens. In Melbourne, Adelaide and frosty districts grow them in pots under a verandah or indoors in bright light, because frost damages the leaves. They are natural companions for the ferns, palms and gingers in palms, ferns and tropical plants.

Planting and spacing

Plant in an orchid mix or a very open potting mix, never garden soil in a pot, and never bury the base of the rosette. In the ground, plant into a mound of bark and coarse compost over well-drained soil. Space neoregelias 30cm apart for a carpet, aechmeas 50cm, and give a giant alcantarea 1.5m of clear space. Keep the central cup topped up with water, and flush it out every few weeks so it does not breed mosquitoes.

Care basics

Water the cup and the mix lightly; the roots are mostly for anchorage. Feed sparingly, a quarter-strength liquid fertiliser in the cup or on the leaves once a month in the warm season, since heavy feeding dulls the leaf colour. Each rosette flowers once, then slowly dies over a year or two while producing pups at its base. Cut the pups away when they are about a third the size of the parent and pot them up. A giant alcantarea takes many years to flower, and the spike is worth the wait. Our guide to bromeliad varieties introduces the main groups.

Common questions

Do bromeliads need soil?

Very little. They need a coarse, open mix for anchorage and drainage, and they take most of their water and nutrients through the central cup and the leaves.

Why has my bromeliad died after flowering?

That is normal. The parent rosette flowers once and then declines, leaving pups around its base that grow into the next plants.

Can bromeliads grow in full sun?

Neoregelia Fireball and Alcantarea imperialis Rubra colour best with several hours of direct sun. Aechmeas and plain green alcantareas prefer filtered light, and all of them burn in hot afternoon sun inland.

How do I stop mosquitoes breeding in the cups?

Flush the cups with a hose every week or two in summer, which also clears debris. A few drops of vegetable oil on the water in a cup also stops larvae.