Pittwater Life January 2024 Issue

Garden Life
with Gabrielle Bryant
Garden Life
Alcantareas add drama and
colour to landscape design
Bromeliads are easy to grow. In recent
years they have become more and
more popular as landscaping plants,
where low maintenance is required. They
multiply quickly, needing very little water
and thriving in full sun or semi-shade.
Exotic colours of red, purple, variegated
green and white or soft grey bromeliads
will fill the gaps in tropical gardens
amongst gingers, cordylines, palms and
crotons.
The family is vast and very adaptable.
Bromeliads are epiphytic plants that grow
naturally on logs, posts or dead tree
stumps. They will not harm their host
plant; they only use it for support. Instead
of growing them in
pots try strapping them
to a log and making a
bromeliad tree.
The smallest are the
tiny air plants, tillandsias,
that will even grow
attached to magnets on
the fridge. The brightflowering
vriesias, often
grown as indoor plants,
send up tall flower
spikes of yellow, scarlet,
or brilliant orange. The
medium-sized, deep
purple, red or speckled
guzmanias, the striped
cryptanthus (with their
crinkled leaves known
as Earth Stars), the pale
grey billbergias with their
pendulous pink spray of
flowers, the grey-striped
aechmea that produces
a huge pink and violet
flower and even the
pineapple(!) all belong to the family.
Last, but not least, is the giant alcantarea
imperialis rubra.
Alcantareas have become the favourite
of the landscaper brigade. These huge
spectacular bromeliads grow in rosette
form to a width and height of 1.5m. The
more sun they get, the richer the colour. If
grown in the shade they will become dark
green with reddish tips. They add drama to
any landscape design, either as a feature
plant or grown as a centrepiece in pots.
They can take any length of time to
flower, from 8-15 years. The tall spikes of
flower are produced from the centre. White,
scented flowers appear from the red bracts
that grow along the 3m
stems (pictured). They
can be seen flowering
now across the peninsula.
These huge flowers look
like Christmas decorated
trees.
As with all bromeliads,
once they have flowered,
they will begin to die
back, and new pups will
appear at the base of the
plant. Separate the pups
from the mother plant
and grow them on as the
next generation.
To grow bromeliads
in pots, use orchid mix –
not potting mix – as they
need excellent drainage
to prevent the roots from
root rot. Outdoors they
can rely on rainwater
and will only need to
be watered after long
periods of drought.
Pink freckles
a shooting star
It can be hard to find a plant that will
flower in full shade, and also grow with
some dappled sunlight.
Tricyrtis Shooting Stars Pink Freckles
(above) will light up the dark areas of the
garden with orchid-like pale mauve or
pink flowers that are speckled with violet
spots in late summer and autumn. For
added colour, mix the pink freckles with
blue and mauve varieties.
I am not sure why these showy
herbaceous plants have been given the
name of ‘Toad Lilies’. They look delicate
but are hardy and easy to grow. With
rhizomes underground that slowly creep
along, they will soon develop into a
dense patch of shiny green foliage.
Left alone the toad lily will naturalise
but never become invasive. Cut back the
leaves and old flowers in early winter
and new growth will appear in spring.
70 JANUARY 2024
The Local Voice Since 1991