I want to grow Bromeliads

[The Codfather]

I have heard on here about people growing them......and after watching Will Gile's videos and googling them.....I would like to give them a go as they look as though they cand add plenty of intrest & colour to the garden as gap fillers and give a exotic feel. Can anyone give me some tip\advice of growing these, where to get them, seed or plant, if they can be overwintered etc....

[JoelR]

I had a Puya chilensis for about 8 years until 09/10 winter which I kept in a pot and overwintered under cover. Started some Puya mirabilis seeds last spring and they have quickly become decent plants. Trying Puya Venusta this time and they've germinated in good numbers along with Hechtia Scariosa. I'd love to get these established outdoors and will try to protect them in situ with fleece etc. The teeth on the leaves of some puyas are quite lethal.

Fascicularia bicolor ssp. canaliculata (used to be known as F. Bicolor) is the hardy one but only just came through last winter for me with plant shrinking considerably. Fascicularia bicolor ssp. bicolor (used to be known as F. pitcairnifolia not because it's from the Pitcairn Islands but is named after the same bloke the Pitcairn Islands are named after) has wider strap leaves and I haven't risked it outdoors all winter yet but I think is more tender.

[philip kitts]

Bilbergia Nutans sometimes called angels tears, grew well for me outside for 8 yrs 2009/10 gave it all it had but it was fine and flowered in April, however it was killed by last years winter I will be getting more they look great on palm and tree fern trunks just pull a side shoot of in autumn and pot up for insurance

[redsquirrel]

fasicularia and bilbergia are both pretty tough Coddy,as are ochagavias but these are expensive and hard to find.
i wouldnt bother with f.pitcairnifolia again,too soft and carks it too easily when cold. as joel said,puyas are great but also painful,look out if you go down that road,although reasonably tough,they are by far the most unwanted plant here after too many attacks from their unrelenting thorns

[The Codfather]

am I right in saying they are a house plant....? I thought loads of members grew them . I just saw one in Will Giles video and the colours were amazing and he recomends them as an addition to a exotic\tropical garden.

I know nothing at all about these plants....

[Dave Brown]

Coddy, Will Giles has a Bromeliad greenhouse and quite a collection from what he wrote on facebook.

Most aren't hardy, but as others have said there are a few that are worth a try outside. I buy and grow the flowering houseplant type Guzmania that you can pick up from supermarkets and sheds. These are cool hardy, and I had them out in the garden in shade until early December this year They are now under the staging in the covered area, which is heated to about 5C.

[Dave Brown]

There are a few topic on Bromeliads HERE
Also I started this topic on bargain Bromeliads from Lidl a couple of years ago.

[The Codfather]

So they can be but out in the summer and then popped in a green house and kept through winter......

[The Codfather]

those guzmania's ones are cool......have you tried any again sine Dave ?

[The Codfather]

Also, is it true they will only flower once ?

[DiCasS]

Guzmanias die after a plant has produced its flowers in summer, but new plants appear as the parent plant dies. I tried one of these a few years ago, in a pot, outside. I left it there all Winter. I tucked it away close to the greenhouse and looked okayish until about mid Winter, when it became too cold and died (not surprisingly ) I was impressed it hung on that long.

Fascicularia, I get mixed up with names, so shall leave it as Fascicularia obviously the hardier one as mine just about hung on with one remaining offset after this last Winter which took round about -17 in the coldest part of the garden and now has grown a few new offsets this year. It was a decent size plant and all the top layers died, leaving me with new offsets coming from underneath. A smaller plant would have perished completely I would imagine. Bendy stems of a bamboo was all the protection it had. All other years it hasn't flinched, so I'd say a good one planted out in the garden.


Di

[The Codfather]

I shall look out for one.....

[Dave Brown]

Guzmanias die after a plant has produced its flowers in summer, but new plants appear as the parent plant dies.
Di

I would have worded it slightly differently Di. The stem dies back but shoots from lower down. The ones I had out in the garden this year in flower now have several side shoots, with the old flower withered on the top.

[The Codfather]

Right, i am off to look on flea bay, morrisons, lidle's etc.....

[DiCasS]

I would have worded it slightly differently Di. The stem dies back but shoots from lower down. The ones I had out in the garden this year in flower now have several side shoots, with the old flower withered on the top.

No probs Dave, thanks

Di