Be Bold With Bromeliads

Turn your trees into a hanging garden

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If you want to go troppo and celebrate the colourful and quirky characteristics of tropical plants, then bromeliads exceed on both counts. First are the spectacular flowers that emerge from the central rosette of the luxuriant leaves. Then you can grow them on trees! In their native South America, they grow on rocks and escarpments or in tree canopies. As lithophytes or epiphytes, the roots’ role is just to grip whatever they’re sitting on and they get nutrients and water from organic matter and rain that falls on their leaves. Recreate this rich extravagance in your own backyard, then watch their amazing blooms emerge for an exotic, tropical and vibrant garden feature.

PUT LOW ON THE GROUND

Catch everyone’s eye with bromeliads in pots on balconies, in courtyards or your garden bed.

• The potting mix should be light and open. Its main purpose is to support and contain the roots, not provide nutrients. Combine half each of all-purpose mix and orchid mix.

• Don’t plant too deeply or the roots will rot.