Bromeliads - a must for any garden

The most successful plant that I grow in my garden is the bromeliad, which exactly suits the type of gardening I am good at - not much digging, feeding at long intervals, occasional watering and general neglect. In other words, if it can grow without me, it can stay! The best thing about these plants is that they don't actually need soil and exist on air and the moisture they gather in the base of their attractive leaves. These tropical plants are as happy in the fork of tree as on a hook in your bathroom and their stunning inflorescences sometimes last for months without fading.
The bromeliads are native to Latin and South America and were first introduced to Europe in 1690 by way of the pineapple - one of the few utilitarian examples of a bromeliad. It was some time before people began to grow interested in the plant rather than the fruit although the non-fruiting varieties were spectacular in their colours and bizarre forms. There are about 2 000 species of bromeliad and it is a very rewarding plant to make a hobby of collecting, due to the aforegoing and the fact that they flower at different times, ensuring that there is always something exciting to look at!

In the wild there are varieties that are 1m in diameter and 7m tall, and these are obviously not suitable for suburban gardens - they also grow high up in the Andes at around 4 000m. Many varieties are home to large colonies of ants, which the early botanists who collected specimens found out to their cost! Although they are described as tropical plants, this relates to their geographical situation, as the climate in Central and South America ranges from the driest desert to rainforest and between altitudes of 0m - 6 700m above sea level. So not every bromeliad requires the same conditions to flourish.
One of the ways in which the bromeliad propagates itself is through 'pupping', which is the growth of a side shoot after flowering. This pup takes over as the new plant and the old one dies, and in this way a relatively sparse patch of bromeliads can soon become overcrowded. It is then time to separate them and give a few away to your friends, or start a new patch elsewhere in the garden. (This information comes from The Bromeliad Lexicon by Werner Rauh)
The propagation and growth of these plants is very easy and you will be richly rewarded with fascinating and colourful inflorescences at almost no cost. I can highly recommend it. A word of warning - some have leaves with viciously serrated edges and chainmail should be worn when removing snails and dead vegetation, otherwise you will look like this: