Hi Kew Tip.

Here is my 10 cents worth with ID.

#1 Guzmania 'Loja'

#2 Guzmania 'Giselle' ?

#3 Aechmea 'Purple Gem'

#4 Aechmea lueddemanniana

Others might suggest different names?

Cheers.
Kerry

Thumbs up on #1,#3 & #4, Kerry, but I'm not so sure about #2. The orange bracts look more like a variegated form of G. lingulata, but I don't know which cultivar. Anybody?

Kerry & Lisa,

Many thanks for the ID's. I really appreciate that you, and the other knowledgeable folks on this forum, are always so ready to offer your help.

I thought lueddemanniana was cold sensitive. Not likely to be growing in Zone 9.

Winterlager,

There are a lot of plants from zone 10/11 that grow well here in 9B/10A.

bo, are you saying lueddemanniana grows fine in zone 9? My friends in western Palm Beach County, 10a, won't grow lueddemanniana.

Winterlager,

Yes, Ae. lueddemanniana does grow here, along with the cultivars 'Mend' and 'Alvarez'. The grower we get them from is local and has probably had these varieties for a long time. We also grow 'Little Harve', which according to Andrew Steens' "Bromeliads for the contemporary garden" is less cold tolerant than Ae. lueddemanniana.

I agree with Bodiggly.
I live in Zone 9 and have grown and successively flowered A. lueddemanniana and its cultivars without too much trouble for several years - in the landscape. I find the cultivars a bit tougher than the straight species lueddemanniana.
I also grow 'Little Harv' without problems, albeit in a protected spot in the garden, under a tree.

Cheers,
Kerry