MACA

One of the symbols that most people throughout the world equate with hospitality is the pineapple. The Carib Indians of the West Indies hung a pineapple (Ananas comosus) outside to tell any guest that they were welcome. Merchant trading ships in the 1700’s returned with cargo from the Caribbean islands with sugar, tobacco, rum, molasses and the pineapple. In America and England sea captains would spear a pineapple on his garden gate to signify to friends and neighbors that he had returned from his ocean voyage and was ready to entertain.

The pineapple is the world’s best-known bromeliad. There are also bromeliads houseplants. These houseplants are inexpensive, easy to grow, require little care and reward the grower with brilliant, long lasting blooms and ornamental foliage. They come in a wide range of sizes from miniatures to giants.

All bromeliads are composed of a spiral arrangement of leaves called a “rosette”. The plant grows in a flattened configuration with its leaves lined up in a single plane. The flowers stalk is produced from the center of the rosette. The stalk may be long with the flowers held far away from the plant or short with the flowers nestled in the middle

of the rosette. Bromeliads only flower a single time. Once the plant stops producing leaves and produces its flower then it vegetatively produces new plantlets called ‘offsets or pups’. These plants will feed on the mother plant until they are large enough to set roots of their own. Pups are produced near the base of the plant inside the sheath of a leaf. The green leafy top of a pineapple is in fact a pup that may be removed and planted to start a new plant.

Several hundred species of bromeliads are being sold as houseplants but the most desirable are Aechmea, Cryptanthus, Guzmania, Neoregelia, Tillandsia and Vriesea. Be sure you look for one of these names on the plant label.

Your success with growing bromeliads indoors will be determined by the growing medium, water, and light. You will need to give your bromeliads a mist once a day and then dunk them in a pail of water about once a week. Since epiphytic bromeliads have poor root systems they take nutrients in through their leaves.

The South is also renowned for its hospitality. We talk slower and take our time visiting with friends and relatives. We will even look up from our phone if someone asks a question.

In our cities you will find gates, doors and cast cement pineapples adoring homes. You can show you’re in hospitality mode this Christmas by using a pineapple as a centerpiece on your holiday table, as a decoration on your front door or you can buy bromeliads plants to brighten up these cold winter days with a splash of color. Just be generous with the water and you’ll have a gift for yourself.

Gayle Fisher