Thanks.

The level of humidity surrounding your plants is important and care should be taken to maintain the humidity needed (about 60 percent humidity); living in Chicago (during the summer) this shouldn’t be a problem for you. But if you notice that the humidity seems a little low, you can try misting your Bromeliad to add a little. You could also try surrounding your V. flammea with other plants to add some humidity.

During the summer, watering or misting should be carried out after the heat of the day has gone (late afternoon or early evening). If you choose to do so in the mornings, be sure that it’s early so that water on the leaves has dried off before the heat of the day hits them and causes leaf burn.

I hope some of this information is useful to you, if you have any other questions, please feel free to ask! I’ll be posting general growing specifications for Vriesea bromeliads in the near future, so keep your eyes peeled!

Good luck, and happy growing!

Take a look at my post Caring For Bromeliads - Part Two - Temperature. It describes the general temperature that Bromeliads like (it’s not species specific), but it may help.

A lot of the Bromeliads that like hotter temperatures, tend to like the temp. around 80 degrees F. So your guess was right on about finding a shady spot to plant your Bromeliad for the summer; due to the extreme temperatures Mesa gets that time of the year. On the other hand, your particular Bromeliad may not like a lot of heat! Let me know what kind of Bromeliad you want to plant outside, and I’ll try to help answer your question better.

Happy Growing!