Plus, these tropicals are easy to care for and safe for pets, too.
In USDA hardiness zones 10-11, they can be grown year-round outdoors, orindoors as houseplantsjust about anywhere.
While bromeliads are perennials, they’ll only bloom once before dying back.
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A healthy bromeliad will reward your care with offsets, or baby plants, after it blooms.
There are more than 2,500 species of bromeliads and countless man-made cultivars.
Here’s a guide to 15 popular varieties, includingpineapples, air plants, and rare bromeliads.
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The low-growing rosettes on these plants range from tiny miniatures to nearly 4 feet wide at maturity.
Keep the central cup of this low-maintenance bromeliad filled with rainwater or distilled water to encourage blooming.
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It’s easy to care for and requires moist soil and bright, indirect light.
The fruit will appear in the center of long, green leaves.
Mature air plants will grow pink, red, or purple flowers from their colorful bracts.
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When flowers appear, they are small and blue, white, or red in color.
They’re hard to kill and low maintenance, making them ideal for beginners.
However, they do produce lots of offsets that can be potted into new plants.
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Give them full sun outdoors or consider using a grow light if growing indoors.
Tall spikes with showy red, yellow, or orange flowers appear when the plant blooms.
Unlike most bromeliads, they’re grown for their foliage rather than their insignificant white flowers.
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They’re low-maintenance with the proper care and conditions, including very bright, direct light.
Long inflorescences of tiny flowers grow from their vase-shaped green foliage.
One variety,Catopsis berteronianaor jungle lantern, is one of very few carnivorous bromeliad species.
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The plant blooms with a tall, compact inflorescence sporting purple, turquoise, or blue flowers.
It’seasy to grow as a houseplantwith well-drained soil and bright, indirect light.
The plant can span 4 feet across and 5 feet in height.
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A red or yellow flower spike can reach 10 feet tall.
Once established, they’re quite low maintenance.
However, instead of a single inflorescence, hohenbergias grow several smaller flowers per spike.
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They require bright light, well-drained soil, and rainwater or distilled water in their central cup.
Bromeliads flower once before dying.
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