Recently, I spent a wonderful morning at the United State Botanic Garden in DC. I’d gone to the Botanic Garden to photograph their holiday displays – and ended up spending much more time exploring the jungle section of the Garden than I did photographing the holiday disply.

As I walked around photographing, I noticed many plants belonging to the Bromeliad family.  What kept catching my eye was all the different shapes and colors of the plants and their flowers. Here are a few of my favorite photos of the Bromeliads from my trip to the US Botanic Garden.

The first bromeliad I photographed was Tillandsia Ionantha, also known as a Sky Plant, is found in Mexico and Central America. I really like the purple and yellow shoots among the red and green of the plant.

(c) 2008 Patty Hankins

Next is Vriesea Tiffany. I loved the way the sun streaming through the glass of the Botanic Garden backlit the yellow and orange flower.

Tiffany Bromeliad (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2008 Patty Hankins

The final bromeliad I photographed is Tillandsia Cyanea or Pink Quill, which is native to Ecuador. There are several Pink Quills at the Botanic Garden. Each one that was in bloom had a pink plume with a purple flower on it.

Pink Quill Bromeliad (c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2008 Patty Hankins

I had a wonderful time photographing the bromeliads at the U.S. Botanic Gardens. I’m really looking forward to heading back there and photographing more of them.