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Visitors are always welcome at all Bromeliad Society meetings and events.  Please see the "Join Us" box for more information.

2026  Meetings

  • Monday, Feb. 9,  2026
    6:00 pm

    This meeting will be held in the "Great Room" in Selby Gardens.

    Dr. David Benzing
    will present:

    "Interrogating Brocchinia reducta concerning its carnivorous lifestyle in Venezuela's Lost World"

    This program is based on an expedition undertaken by Dr. Benzing, and colleagues, to southeast Venezuela to determine in scientific detail whether Brocchinia reducta is in fact a carnivorous plant.

    The team's study included an effort to identify the environmental conditions that favor this type of nutrition, not only in a bromeliad, but also in non-bromeliads native to the same region.

    Dr. Benzing holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and he is an Oberlin College professor of biology Emeritus. He is also an Ohio Research Associate in collaboration with Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.

    Dr. Benzing is the author of five books on the biology of vascular epiphytes with an emphasis on bromeliads and orchids. In addition, he has authored more than 75 peer reviewed scientific articles mostly on the same and related subjects.

  • Monday, Jan. 12,  2026
    6:00 pm

    This meeting will be held in the "Great Room" in Selby Gardens.

    Terrie Bert
    will present:

    "Care of Bromeliads:
    Terrie’s fastest way to solve grooming problems."

    Terrie will bring bromeliads with different problems and demonstrate how she cleans them and deals with their problems. Shell also bring plenty of bromeliads for purchase at good prices. (She takes cash or check; not credit cards.)

    If you have a bromeliad with a problem that you don't know how to remedy, bring it for a question-and-answer period after Terrie's talk.

    Terrie is a longstanding member of the Sarasota Bromeliad Society (SBS) and the Caloosahatchee Bromeliad Society and has held multiple offices in the SBS. She also served the Florida Council of Bromeliad Societies (FCBS) as a representative and officer for eight years and has authored multiple articles for the FCBS Newsletter.

    For the Bromeliad Society International, she has been the librarian, a Florida Director, and Standard Show Chair several times. She also has chaired several international committees, judged several shows, contributed articles to the BSI Journal, and has been an invited speaker at world conferences.

    Currently she is Curator of the Wally Berg Award of Excellence and a Master Judge. Terrie has given over 175 presentations on bromeliads to numerous U.S. and international bromeliad societies and to other groups, including regional and international bromeliad conferences.

    She cultivates more than 2,000 different bromeliads in about 35 genera. She’s won multiple top awards in local bromeliad shows and BSI world conferences. She also obtained her Master Naturalist certification from the Manatee County Extension Service.

    Terrie has a Ph.D. in marine biology and recently retired from her position as a research scientist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

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