As I look around my yard, where I have tried planting many broms. I see some doing well, quite surprisingly. And a number are doing poorly, again not surprisingly.
We do have a rather consistent strong breeze every afternoon from the ocean, ten miles away. My crowded yard doesn't allow the wind free access everywhere! If I lose a plant, I lose it. As I put it, my plants have to learn to live with me, not me with them!
My greenhouse is glass and redwood, 17 feet square and 13 feet high at its highest point. You can see it at http://www.charlies-web.com/greenhouse/contents03.html.
It is unheated and has overhead sprinklers which go for ten minutes, three times a week in summer, less in winter.
When I say my plants are outdoors, I mean the entire year. If I move a plant into the greenhouse it is because it looks especially pretty or because I think it permanently needs a bit of protection. I figure the greenhouse probably runs about 5 degrees warmer than the outside. I also have a fan that blows outward at 85 degrees F and above.
I will put pictures of my plants, in my yard, here so you can see what they do in this climate zone.
I decided to describe the conditions I live in and give photographs of the results. Other hobbyists will then have some method of choosing plants that might do well for them. And, of course, conversely, they may understand why some of their plants don't do well.
If some of you would like to send pictures of plants that do well for you, please do so. And photographic warnings about plants that don't make it would be most welcome. But I will need a good description of their growing conditions for them to have value on this page.
My Conditions
First Group, 2004.0601
Aechmea triangularis, in shade doing well
Aechmea triangularis, in sun doing well
Billbergia horrida v tigrina
Billbergia horrida v tigrina
Aechmea organensis
Aechmea organensis
Second Group, 2004.0601
Quesnelia quesneliana
Quesnelia quesneliana
Aechmea distichantha v distichantha
Tillandsia tenuifolia
Tillandsia achyrostachys
Third Group, 2004.0601
Vriesea hieroglyphica
Nidularium angustifolium
Nidularium regelioides
Nidularium regelioides
Aechmea ornata v nationalis
Tillandsia species
Acanthostachys strobilacea
Fourth Group, 2004.0601
Fosterella spectabilis
Calibanus hookeri
Calibanus hookeri