high shade.... try that.... they need light but full sun might be too much....

there are so many bromeliads to choose from that can grow outdoors in California. There are a lot on nurseries in southern cal that grow them. You can probably get some at reasonable prices if you look around but you will fine no seedlings or seeds on the market.

There are broms that grow in Arizona,have thorns,look sorta like they might be a strange yucca... you may have seen these kinds in the S.D. zoo. Mine looks like a star and is called something like that (I'll look it up if anyone really wants to know.)

there are plenty of bromeliads that grow in full sun .and there are others that grow in part sun/shade on trees

if you do buy some at the stores ,, take them out of the pots and plant them right into the ground .. when the original plants dies ,,several more will sprout around it

Birdrock Tropicals in Carlsbad sells bromeliads and is having a going out of business sale until they have to vacate the property. You might also consider joining one of the southern California Bromeliad Society chapters or attending one of their sales. Bromeliads are for the most part fairly slow growing from seed, so are more usually propagated from divisions, there for the prices are not super cheap. There are quite a few large growers of bromeliads in southern California, and the more commonly grown species that are intended for the indoor flower trade such as Neoregelias, Guzmanias, Aechmeas and Tillandsias are not that expensive if you start off with small 4 inch pot sized plants. If you join a local bromeliad society chapter, they will most certainly have a cheap raffle table of plants from member's gardens at each meeting, and this is a great way to start a collection and get more info on the best plants to try for your circumstances. This is how I started my own collection some 25 years ago, and now I have literally hundreds out in the garden. You might find it interesting to do them by mailorder as well, and www.tropiflora.com in Florida has a very nice selection that changes monthly. You could also research plants by visiting the national Bromeliad Web site at www.bsi.org, which has a great photographic library on-line of all bromeliads being grown worldwide.