The Rural Voice, 1993-02, Page 38Gardening
Wee bromeliads make interesting addition to your home
by Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
Well, the hoopla of the festive
scason is long gone and for those of
us fortunate enough to receive
plants for Christmas they arc
probably past looking festive.
My Christmas plant, given to me
by my daughter Sarah, is just now
starting to look a little peaked. It is
an air plant and with all my books, I
found very little about the lovely
wee plants which are carefully
fastened onto a curved piece of
driftwood. My first mistake was
looking for it among cacti and
succulents. The leaves are very
stiff and can almost be called a dark
sage green. The smaller one of the
two is about three inches high and
has a spike of deep periwinkle blue
flowers which, after so many
weeks, arc just now beginning to
fade. The air plant is also called
Tillandsia and with a little digging
at the library I finally linked the
name with a more familiar plant to
mc, the bromeliads.
Years ago I had a bromeliad and
used to pour water into its cup of
leaves. The hard spiky leaves were
green, white and soft pink. The
branch of flowers was almost a
shrimp colour and the bracts lasted
for weeks.
Bromeliads arc from a family
called Bromeliaceae and are native
to our western hemisphere from
Virginia to middle Argentina. This
family grows in nature three
different ways; on trees; on the
ground; and on rocky surfaces.
They are not parasites but use their
host as a ledge to sit on. There are
three branches of this family. The
first sub -family is often confused
w ith succulents since it can
withstand very dry conditions.
They usually grow in soil and their
leaves have very spiny edges.
The second branch is called bro-
melioideae and are popular indoor
plants. The bright bromeliads are
from this group. The leaves grow
in a rosette pattern and may be cup
34 THE RURAL VOICE
or tubular shaped. Water is
collected in the centre of the rosette
of leaves and in the larger plants
this becomes a home for insects and
small frogs. One story about the
building of the Panama Canal
relates how many bromeliads were
systematically destroyed as part of
a sanitation program. The plants
were providing a perfect breeding
spot for malaria mosquitoes.
My new additions, sitting grace-
fully on my desk, are from the third
family, tillandsioidea. Almost all
their members grow in trees. Their
roots are very short and they get
their food and moisture through
minute scales on their leaves.
Another member of this family that
you may be familiar with is the
mysterious Spanish moss that
drapes over the trees in the deep
south.
Sarah bought this wee treasure
from Marilyn Hull in London.
Marilyn has a wide variety of air
plants. She fastens them to a
variety of driftwood and some on
ceramic items. They are curiously
easy to take care of. Marilyn
cautioned Sarah that we would have
to water our plants by spraying or
misting twice a week in the winter
months and at least once a week in
the summer months. They like
bright light although your air plants
should be moved back from the
strong summer sun. It's just the
kind of plant you sit on your
windowsill over the kitchen sink,
near the water and bright light, and
near enough to enjoy each and
every day. They can also be put
outside for the warmer months
taking the same precautions that
you would with many other
houseplants, placing them in
dappled shade.
Once I found some material on
these wonderful little plants I began
to find out that some species have
spectacular flowers even more
amazing than orchids. They have a
delightful variety of leaves and
sizes. The leaves can be tough and
string -like or soft, thin and strap -
like. You can force bromeliads to
bloom by placing the plant in a bag
with a large, fragrant apple for
about four or five days. The
ethylene gas given off by the ripe
apple triggers the blooming cycle.
Depending on the species, it will
take six to 14 weeks to flower.
Once it has finished flowering there
will be at least two side shoots.
They may be cut from the mother
plant after six months. Use a
sterile, sharp knife to make the cut.
With the potted varieties, plant in a
coarse mixture of peat moss,
sphagnum moss or ground fern
bark. In general, the off -shoots will
flower in one to two years. A weak
solution of 20-20-20 may be
sprayed on the plants or applied to
the leaf vase every couple of weeks
during the growth period.
I go through a purging every few
years or so, cleaning out plants that
I just can't nurse back to health and
finding new homes for the ones I
have grown tired of. With the
welcome addition of Tillandsia to
my window sill I can see a long
love affair developing here.0
Rhea Hamilton -Seeger, in addition to
working in advertising production
for The Rural Voice, raises two
children, and is a skilled cook and
gardener.