Bromeliads are one of the best tropical plants to grow in your home. In their native habitat, they are often epiphytic, attaching themselves by special root structures to trunks and branches of trees and deriving their moisture and nutrients from the air and rain. They have been commercially cultivated in Europe for more than a hundred and fifty years, becoming one of the most popular flowering house plants. Their admirable qualities include easy care (infrequent watering), a long lived "flower" (three months or more), and many vivid colors available (resulting from hybridizing and selective breeding). In fact, they are often featured in home and garden magazines. Over the past twenty years the popularity of these marvelous plants has steadily increased in this country. These exotic looking plants are even appearing in movie set designs and are being used extensively by interiorscape designers for long duration color accents.

Inflorescences (flower clusters) rise out of the center of the plant in colorful clusters above stiff or succulent foliage. In the case of bromeliads, the showy parts are actually clusters of waxy bracts that are born beneath each tiny flower. They can vary from red, pink, yellow, purple, orange or white. Blooms can last from 8 -- 12 weeks depending on variety and conditions.

After flowering, "pups" or young offshoots will develop around the base of the plant. When they reach about 3" -- 5" high, they may be cut off from the mother plant and repotted.

In fact, it is very easy to encourage your plant back into flower next season. To quote the University of Florida: "Many factors cause bromeliads to bloom such as plant age, day length, light intensity, water and temperature. Some bromeliads bloom quite regularly while others do not. Research on the flowering process has shown that bromeliads can be induced to flower by exposing them to ethylene gas (a product of burning wood and leaves and ripening fruit and vegetables). After exposure to ethylene gas, the flowers appear, depending on the genus involved, within 6 to 14 weeks. A simple method that a home gardener can use to start bromeliads' flowering is to place a healthy, mature plant with all the water drained from its cup inside a tightly closed, clear plastic bag for a week to 10 days with a ripe apple. During senescence (aging process), the apple releases ethylene gas that, in turn, induces the bromeliad to flower."

Plants perform best in diffused bright light, keeping them slightly moist (high humidity), but in well drained soil. A bromeliad soil is best, containing fir bark and/or osmunda fiber. Be sure to keep the cups filled with fresh water.