Fun With Air Plants

Tillandsia aka air plants are EASY plants to care for. They are in the succulent family, which I introduced in this blog post. They are fun to plant as well.  They do not require soil, so they can be placed in non-traditional containers and will survive.  They require some nice sunshine from a window, but nothing too hot and direct.  A south facing window is best.  Mine also do well in a western exposure window.  Other than sun, I just soak mine in a bowl of water for about 1 hour once per week.  I will probably be giving them fertilizer via a spray bottle once a month as well.  I fertilize all of my plants at least once per month.  

Here is the care instructions provided with my last shipment of them:

 

Ordered from this etsy shop

"Basic Tillandsia Care:
Light-They need a lot of light, but not direct sun. Unless the direct sun is a.m. sun or direct sun in the winter months. the best spot for them is by a bright south facing window. Prolonged direct sun will burn most air plants-especially the delicate flowers and the tiny plantlets.
Water-You can water your air plants as often as every day or as little as once per week. We recommend watering every other 1-2 days so 2-3 times per week. In the winter time when it is cold or in humid weather you should water less-once a week. The best way to water is to thoroughly wet the entire plant from top to bottom with a spray bottle or by gently running under the faucet. It is a good idea to give the plants a light misting on the days you do not do a complete watering. This is especially important for the tiny plantlets, as they can dry out sooner than the larger plants. It is also equally important to make sure that your plants are drying off within 3-4 hours after watering. Prolonged wetness can cause the plants to rot.
Food-We recommend that you feed plants every 2 weeks in the growing months of spring, summer, and early fall. Feed every 4-6 weeks during the winter or not at all. We use fertilizer specially designed for air plants. Dissolve 1/4 teaspoon in a spray bottle and thoroughly wet the plants with the solution and then allow to dry. The very next day after feeding thoroughly water the plants again with clean water. This will wash any fertilizer away that has not been absorbed by the plants, and thus preventing burning from over fertilization.
Air plants grow best in temps from 50-90F. Daytime temps are best at 70-90F and they can get quite a bit cooler at night. They cannot tolerate freezing temps.
Please check out our online store for tillandsia fertilizer, air plants, air plant pots, bromeliads and tons more"
www.CTSairplants.com

Other good sites for ordering them are:

Air Plant Supply Co.

Air Plant City

Here are some fun ways I have planted my air plants:

  I got these tea light candle holders in the dollar section at Target.  I have them hanging in groups of 3 on a tension rods.  The tension rods go right across my windows. This allowed me to expand on more vertical space in my kitchen garden. 

They are great inside of sea shells! 

 This little setup, with the tea cup and books, is something I gave my mom for her birthday. I love the vintage feel of it!

 The plant is set on top of river stones.

This one is fun!  You can cut a hole in a plastic toy animal and create a planter that way.  Sharky looks great with his air plant hair-do. 

I do also plan to add a tiny air plant to the light bulb terrarium I introduced in my last blog post.