Cool Mediterranean Bromeliads
and some non-Broms

It can be a problem trying to grow tropical/semi-tropicals plants out of their native environment. As hobbyists, out of the brom's area, we really have no choice. I get a lot of questions about how to grow broms and I often don't have a real good answer.

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

         I live in an area that is considered to be one of the five great cool Mediterranean climates, the Mediterranean of course, the tip of South Africa, the southwest coast of Australia, the central coast of Chile and here on the California coast.
         We get around twenty inches of rain a year, with rather wide fluctuations. It occurs almost exclusively in winter, December through February, with some water for a month both before and after. We are about ten miles from the ocean so we do have a good morning dew quite often which is probably appreciated by the broms. The area gives the feeling of being quite dry but I believe there is a good bit of moisture availalble in the air most of the time.
         Our temperatures stay pretty much between 30 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit (-1C to 36C). Occasionally, in late December, there may be a night or two where the temperature dips below 30 for a few hours in early morning. And we have had brief (several days) excursions in summer above 70 to 85 and occasionally even 90.

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


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