Once you’ve planted a few urn plants in your garden, the bug will bite and turn you into an avid collector. Here are a few identifiers and tips to help you get your collection started:

• Urn plants are related to the pineapple and many types are available: from fine and grey, to coarse and scaly, or even plants with sharp, pointed, leathery leaves in which frogs sometimes lay their eggs.
• These plants enjoy light, fresh air, humidity and water. They don’t like full sun, frost, extreme cold or strong wind. Light shade is best and they will even grow indoors. Apart from these considerations, they don’t need much attention.
• Urn plants use small, leathery roots to ‘stick’ to a host tree but they do not use the host as a source of nutrients. Sometimes they simply hang upside down from a branch fork and when they fall to the ground, simply continue growing there. Some prefer mulch and peat moss, and they will even grow in very shallow soil or tiny plastic pots, as long as they are anchored in some way.
• Most varieties have brightly coloured flowers. They can also cause their top leaves to ‘blush’, thus attracting insects to pollinate them. As soon as pollination occurs, the mother plant dies but a number of side shoots (known as ‘pups’) are formed.

Words and image: Home magazine