I live in one of the northern suburbs of Cape Town, Plattekloof Glen, about 15 kilometers away from the city and Table Mountain. As the crow flies, I am about 10 kilometers from the ocean (elevation 40m), as far south as the southern tip of Brazil and Sydney, Australia. I live on a corner property where one can 'drive by' and see the garden from two different sides. It is a small section, at only 600 square meters in area.

Growing Conditions

We have a climate very similar to the Mediterranean region, with hot, dry summers and winter rain, but not too cold. We do get the odd shower in summer, but our rainy season usually starts around Easter weekend. So, apart from the fact that the intensity of the sunlight is much less in winter, it is also mostly cloudy, easily lasting for two weeks without seeing the sun! In winter we lose a lot of colour in our bromeliads, with lower light intensity and mostly cloudy or rainy weather. And, on top of that, the days are much shorter. In mid-winter, we get 10 hours from sunrise to sunset, whereas in mid-summer, we have around 14 hours day length.

Being close to the ocean, we do not get frosts. Night temperatures can go down to 5 degrees Celcius (41 degrees Fahrenheit) a few nights in winter, but on average a low of 9 or 10 deg C (50 deg F) is normal. Average day temperatures in winter are between 12 and 16 deg C. So, these are not ideal weather to grow bromeliads in, being cold and wet and with low light. We lose a lot of colour in winter on the normal colourful plants, like neoregelias and billbergias. The other problem caused by the cold weather is many bromeliads will often flower too prematurely, like for instance Neoregelia 'Fireball'--it blooms regularly every year here, whilst Lisa Vinzant (in Hawaii) always complains that she has to apply 'Florel' to get it to flower.

Summer is usually hot and dry and we have to water regularly. But in the early part of summer, we get strong south-easterly winds which has a cooling effect with average day temperatures in the mid-twenties. Then the wind stops for a day or three and the temperature goes up to the mid-thirties.

Usually in the late part of summer, the wind stops. Then we have those mid-thirty temperatures for longer periods and the occasional spike into the forties. All this makes it difficult to grow good looking bromeliads outside in the garden, they must be protected from the midday sun. Half an hour of direct sun in the middle of the day can burn unsightly holes in the leaves, or fry a plant completely.

The Garden Concept

Before the bromeliad bug bit me, I was into collecting palms. At one stage,...