Easiest houseplant? Many experts will give you one answer
And the answer is: bromeliads. The question?
“Which houseplants can adapt to low light and don’t require frequent watering, but will flower anyway?”
It’s a question that tropical plant experts like Angel A. Lara hear regularly, particularly from those who have put other houseplants in jeopardy by subjecting them to this kind of no-frills regimen.
Unlike many houseplants, bromeliads tend to have “an easy disposition,” said Lara, the vice president for botanical horticulture at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, in Sarasota, Fla. That’s because many of the ones marketed as houseplants are epiphytes.
Lara speaks from extensive hands-on experience. Epiphytes from four plant families — bromeliads, orchids, Gesneriads and ferns — are the central focus of study at Selby, a renowned research facility and popular visitor attraction that is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
Most epiphytes, or air plants, don’t sink their roots into soil to absorb moisture and nutrients, Lara explained. Instead, they use their roots to attach themselves to other plants, especially trees and shrubs, or sometimes rocks.
Epiphytic bromeliads derive sustenance not from the ground but from the atmosphere, and from other living organisms. Their specialized design — whether it’s a central, vase-like tank formed by a rosette of leaves; complex cellular structures on the foliage called trichomes; or both — allows them to gather and conserve water. They also use their tanks to collect organic matter such as insects or bits of leaves.
All of this amounts to “survival tactics,” Lara said.
“They’re doing what desert plants do,” he added, likening it to the impressive water- and nutrient-storage capabilities of cactuses. “But bromeliads are doing it in the tropics.”
Bromeliad basics
With roughly 3,500 species — and probably 100,000 hybrids — bromeliads offer a staggering number of choices if you’re looking for a houseplant.
Lara recommends Tropiflora Nursery or Bird Rock Tropicals as mail-order sources. You may find yourself easily seduced by a hot-pink earth star (Cryptanthus) or the showy pattern of venation on the foliage of some big, standout Vriesea.
Most bromeliads have a couple of things in common: They’re stemless, usually with a rosette structure. And they’re native, almost exclusively, to the New World tropics and subtropics. (Only one species hails from West Africa.) But for the last 500 years, since the discovery of the pineapple — a terrestrial species, not an epiphytic one — bromeliads have been moved around the globe.
With the notable exception of Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides), a Zone 8-hardy epiphytic bromeliad (and an odd one out in appearance, too), these are generally Zone 10 plants. That makes them perennial garden candidates only in portions of
Florida, California and Texas.
Everywhere else, they are happy outdoors only in the summer — and Lara recommends bringing them outside if possible, so they can stock up on resources before the leaner times of indoor houseplant season hit.
Beginner bromeliads
If you are new to bromeliads, maybe don’t start by going too big or too prickly at first, Lara suggested.
Such practical considerations figure into matching plant to place. For example, large bromeliads with rosettes of leaves deep enough to form water-holding tanks — such as the spectacular Vriesea gigantea, or V. hieroglyphica with its banded leaf markings — may not be ideal for a busy family room, even if the other conditions are suitable.
“I have kids, and I have dogs,” he said, wincing at the vision of the ample tank’s contents upended onto the carpet.
Another consideration: Many bromeliads have spines on the edges of their leaves or are serrated, “and they do sort of scratch you up,” he said. “Bromeliads are notorious for being not the friendliest of sorts.”
Lara’s top-five list starts with gentler ones, like the pink quill bromeliad (Tillandsia cyanea, now classified as Wallisia but often sold by its former name). With green, grassy leaves that form a small tank, or water reservoir, it makes a good choice for growing bare root, in a slatted hanging basket, or mounted with zip ties onto a piece of wood. The fragrant flower scape — which resembles a big, flattened pink pine cone — lasts for as long as six months.
Next, he recommends the earth stars, or Cryptanthus. Among the most colorful and forgiving of all, they are easily grown in pots. Their wavy leaf margins are serrated, but not bitingly so. Unlike his other recommendations, earth stars are semi-terrestrial, often living on rocks and sand in the wild.
Care and feeding
Owing to their epiphytic nature, most bromeliads don’t need soil so much as a solid footing — something to grab onto, the way they would a tree in the forest canopy. Those that do get potted up, like the Cryptanthus, Guzmania or Aechmea, are best underpotted, or given pots that may appear to be too small. This can create the look of a mismatch, but it keeps roots healthier.
“The Bromeliaceae should have what we refer to as ‘a little pot and a big head,’ because if you’re doing the opposite, you’re going to rot that plant,” Lara said. Letting plants stand in a saucer of water will do the same.
He recommends using a potting mix labeled for Phalaenopsis orchids, which are also epiphytic. Such blends are typically heavy on the bark and may contain ingredients such as sponge rock, coarse perlite and charcoal.
If you have bromeliads grown in pots, water them as you would any other potted plant. If a plant’s leaves form a tank — the way Aechmea, Vriesia, Guzmania and Neoregelia do — add water into it, too.