The Bromeliad world offers so many ways to "do" a landscape. More than just an accent bed or groundcover, but colors, sizes and textures to draw interest!

There are some Bromeliads which can handle full sun… but they only tolerate this condition, it’s not always ideal. All Bromeliads prefer some mid day shade. However, if you’re planting in full sun here’s some tips to maintain the quality.

• When possible plant during the cooler months (October to April) is best. This will give the Bromeliad time to acclimate to the hot summer sun. Planting during the summer months can cause bleached or burned foliage.
• Avoid planting near asphalt, white painted walls or over decorative "white" chips.
• Use mulch minimally… no more than one inch deep.
• Do not fertilize heavily in full sun, this will cause tender growth to burn easily.

Walking through most garden centers which carry any variety of house plants you should see an assortment of Bromeliads. The more popular varieties of Aechmea, Guzmania and Vriesea (VREE-zee-uh). Most of these varieties can find a nice place to set up stop in a home an brighten up any room.

We "limit" the size of these house plants assuming they can only be used indoors. With Bromeliads… that simply is not the case. There are varieties you’ll most likely never find in any garden center. One nice feature of the south Florida climate gives landscapers the opportunity to use a whole "class" of Bromeliads outdoors in the landscape.

These "landscape" Bromeliads can become hugh… think the size of the hood of your car! Just like their smaller cousins that brighten a room indoors they do the same for the landscape.

Here’s a species named – Alcanterea Imperialis… large in size, big on color and a "flower" which can only be described as "wild." Enjoy…

Image courtesy Bullis Bromeliads Miami, Florida.

Mention the word "bromeliad" and you may pick up some quick stares – "bra… what"? Many people know what a bromeliad is… just not by that name.

The most popular of all Bromeliads would probably be the pineapple! The commercial edible bromeliad botanically known as Ananas comosus.  I’ve visited the pineapple fields in hawaii  and tasted the fruits… it can only be described as "candy."

However, the pineapple also has a few other relatives in the family. These other siblings dress in green, pink striped and cream leaves. When mature most Ananas boast a rosette of leaves 2 feet or more across.

Although the pineapple (Ananas comosus) may give us food for the table a smaller more "dwarf" pineapple – Ananus nanus – is  more commonly grown as a house plant. Arching  12 to 15-inch grayish-green leaves surround a spike of red buds often resembling a pincushion. This miniture even gives a nice 2-inch high, edible pineapple. Ananus nanus is grown more as a novelty plant.  If you want to start a conversation in the office or out on the patio with a cup of coffee… try a pineapple!

One thing I love about the whole Bromeliad family is the wide variety of shapes colors and potential uses. They cross the boundaries of “political correctness” and economic status. They can dress up a trendy art deco South Beach condo as well as brighten up an apartment in Cleveland.

Most of the species grown as house plants or office plants show off primarily colorful foliage or bright “flowers” livening up any indoor space. The “Broms” at times seem to carry as many variations in foliage as you’ll find in flowers. However, many of those colors “hiding” in the foliage need good lighting to show their stuff… often this means used in outdoor landscapes.

What kind of foliage and color variations am I talking about?

Everything from leaves of green to gray, maroon, deep purple (not the rock group), hot pinks and yellows with many colors in between. You’ll find foliage spotted, striped, banded to one a treat for the ladies with “painted fingernails.”

Yes a diverse group of plants they are… one that with a little opening of the eye can be used in many situations… even Rockefeller Center in the Summer!

Bromeliads are the family where we find pineapples (Bromeliaceae), and can be found in their native habitat of the New World or more commonly known as North, Central and South America. The two most widely known plants from the Bromeliad family are the popular pineapple (Ananas comosus) and the graceful “southern Bromeliad” known as Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides).

Most Bromeliads grown for indoor use as house plants are epiphytes. In their native home you’ll find them attached by their root to trunks and branches in trees and “catch” their nutrients and moisture from the air and rain – hence they are know as “air plants”.

Some do attach themselves to rocks, while other grow as most plants do – in the ground. Within the same genus or group you can often find tree-dwelling, ground-dwelling, and rock-dwelling species. If the truth be known most epiphytic and terrestrial Bromeliads can grow just as well in either place or condition. It is this characteristic and ability Bromeliads posses in particular, that allows many of the epiphytic Bromeliad species to be produced in pots, making them wonderful house plants.