Images may show mature specimens and are provided as a guide only. As plants are living products, the size, shape and appearance of the stock supplied may vary from the images shown.
Nursery Direct
Giant Bromeliad
Alcantarea extensa
Everything is included in this price: the plant, free delivery and professional installation
The price you see is the whole job: the plant supplied, delivered free and professionally installed. Done for you.
Supplied in 400mm
Want to see the actual plant?
The photo shows this species, not the individual plant reserved for you. Send us an enquiry and we usually reply within 1 business day with photos of the actual stock available in the size you want.
Request photosGetting it in: this size needs about 900mm of clear access. Measure the narrowest point on the route and tell us on the booking call. Standard access is included in the price, and anything unusual is quoted and agreed with you before work begins. What happens on installation day
Looking for a larger size?
Sizes shown are the sizes we currently source in this species. If you need larger specimens, project quantities or a size not listed, our sourcing team can look for it through our national supplier network. We confirm your exact stock with you on the booking call before anything ships.
Send An EnquiryYou order. We do the rest.
After checkout, our team contacts you to confirm site access and book a day that suits. Most orders are delivered and planted within 2 to 4 weeks of your booking call. Nothing else for you to organise.
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Product Details
Overview & Specifications
Price includes everything: the plant, free delivery and professional installation by our planting team. One price, whole job done.
Giant Bromeliad - Alcantarea extensa
Brazilian rock outcrops are where this plant makes sense. Alcantarea extensa grows lithophytically on exposed granite, anchoring with a small root system and collecting its water in the central cup formed by the rosette. In an Australian garden that translates into a large, self sufficient sculptural rosette that needs almost no soil, tolerates dry air and wind, and eventually sends up a flower spike well above the foliage.
Why Alcantarea extensa
Rosette form: Broad, recurving leaves build a symmetrical bowl close to a metre across.
Cup watering: The plant drinks from the central well, so it copes with poor soil and infrequent irrigation.
Wind and dry air tolerance: Thick leaves handle exposure that scorches softer tropical foliage.
Dramatic flower spike: After many years the rosette lifts a branched spike to around 2m before setting seed.
Offsets replace the parent: Pups form around the base as the flowered rosette declines, so the clump renews itself.
Ideal Applications
Tropical courtyard: A single rosette gives instant structure among ferns, palms and philodendrons.
Wall pockets and rockeries: It grows happily in a crevice with barely any soil, exactly as it does in habitat.
Large pot: Container culture in a coarse mix suits it and allows repositioning as light changes.
Poolside planting: Minimal leaf drop and no flowering mess make it a clean choice near water.
Specimen & Installation
Spacing (screening/hedge): 1 to 1.2m for a massed group
Spacing (feature/avenue): 1.5 to 2m
Best Planting Season: Spring to early autumn in warm conditions
Soil & Drainage: Extremely open, coarse mix of bark, scoria and grit; ordinary garden soil holds too much water around the base
Establishment Care: Keep the central cup topped up with fresh water and flush it occasionally so it does not stagnate. Water the root zone only when it dries out, and shelter the plant from frost, which marks the foliage permanently.
Plant Details
Height: 0.8 to 1.2m in leaf, to around 2m in flower
Width: 1 to 1.5m
Growth Rate: Slow
Foliage: Evergreen
Light: Bright filtered light to morning sun
Native to: Rocky outcrops of eastern Brazil
Flower Colour: Pale yellow to cream on a tall spike, after many years
Delivery & Installation
Delivery and installation are included in your price
No freight calculators and no separate installation quote for a standard installation. Your price covers specialist plant transport, positioning and professional planting by our installation team. The whole job, handled.
- Wrapped, secured and transported by specialist plant freight.
- Professionally planted, staked and finished by our install team.
- Our team confirms site access and schedules a time that suits you.
Installation
Professional installation included, never extra
Every plant we sell is planted by our professional installation team, and it's already in the price. We coordinate the delivery, the machinery and the planting for standard site access, so your only job is choosing the tree. Unusual access or engineering requirements? We'll confirm everything with you after checkout before any work begins.
Questions? Send An EnquiryWhy Nursery Direct
Every price includes supply, delivery and installation
Buying a mature tree often means three separate jobs: the plant, the freight and finding someone to plant it. We price the whole job as one: the tree, the delivery and the professional install.
- One price: supplied, delivered and installed
- Mature trees and specimen palms at every scale
- National sourcing for hard-to-find stock
- Residential, estate and commercial projects
How It Works
Place your order. We do the rest.
We Supply
Premium advanced stock, selected from a national network of wholesale growers.
We Deliver
Specialist plant freight brings your order to your door. Free, anywhere in Australia.
We Install
Our professional team plants, stakes, mulches and finishes the job on site.







