by angela@diggingbliss | Aug 4, 2014 | air plants, botanical garden, coastal, DIG Gardens, mediterranean, nurseries, Santa Cruz, string gardens, succulents
(NOTE: I finally got around to publishing this draft post from late June!) I’d made much overdue plans to visit my friend Lynette in Santa Clara this Sunday and since we both love Santa Cruz, we decided to drive a little bit farther and spend our day there. Arriving around lunch time, we decided to hit Cafe Iveta first. I’d chosen the cafe based on its gluten-free friendliness and 80+ positive Yelp reviews. My turkey sandwich with Havarti and bacon was delish. Yes, I know gluten-free bread looks a little funny, but it tasted great. Fresh, soft and flavorful.
Next, we were off to DIG Gardens Nursery. Lynette had never been to DIG, and I think it’s only my third visit. Nurseries never get old to me, because they’re always, always tweaking things. Since my prior visit, I spotted the book display in another part of the shop, saw a D.I.Y. Bubble Terrarium station that I don’t remember from before. Fun, fun, fun. Nearby shelves hold air plants and empty glass terrariums. Terraria? Pshhh…. I dunno.
I returned home with a couple adorable greeting cards for future use, and an irresistible succulent. Lynette went home with her first air plant! (more…)
by angela@diggingbliss | Jul 24, 2014 | air plants, book, books, flora grubb
New book alert! There was a blurb today on Air Plants: The Curious World of Tillandsias
by Zenaida Sengo, an interior display coordinator at Flora Grubb nursery in San Francisco. Flora Grubb has exceptional interior and exterior merchandise displays and I’m bazonkers for air plants. Want!
by angela@diggingbliss | Apr 21, 2014 | air plants, Crafts, Etsy
I’m prototyping some plantsy things to sell on Etsy. Here’s one. Working on other ideas as well, including cuttings and seeds.
by angela@diggingbliss | Jan 19, 2014 | air plants, orchids, winter garden
Frigid winter temperatures have induced dormancy in the landscape and my desire to garden. All I want to do is occasionally water my air plants and admire my reblooming orchids … from the sofa… with a warm mug in hand.
Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for talk beside a fire: it is the time for home. – Edith Sitwell
by angela@diggingbliss | Aug 16, 2013 | air plants, fertilizing, ponds
I love how blogs propagate neat ideas somewhat randomly and virally throughout the land. Via The Horticult, I recently learned that by soaking your air plants in pond water, they are actually being fed by “pond scum” at the same time! Check out their post titled “Soak City: An Unlikely Fertilizer for Tillandsia”.
I love this idea because it’s a clever, efficient and thrifty use of a waste product. As is the way of the web, the folks at The Horticult learned this tip from Florida air plant purveyor Air Plant City’s “Caring For Your Tillandsia” page.
I was able to put this feeding method into practice at the nursery yesterday, but will have to wait until I have a pond at home to determine how well this works as a long-term feeding regimen. Until then, I can use Grow More 17-8-22 Bromeliad & Tillandsia Fertilizer
on my tillies at home. Grow More’s is the only commercial tilly fertilizer I’ve come across that’s relatively inexpensive and readily available.
by angela@diggingbliss | Jul 12, 2013 | air plants, houseplants
At the nursery where I work, we regularly receive shipments of Tillandsias or “air plants”. Thoughts on maintaining them varied among employees, but the general consensus was that they required “occasional misting”. That seems logical, but what we ended up with were air plants that were too dry at the tips and rotted at the base.
With multiple employees whisking by at random times to give a quick spritz , we were probably misting our tillandsias to death. Over time and after doing a bit more Googling, we decided instead to give our air plants a nice long bath in tepid water, with absolutely no misting between baths. Soaking times can vary, but the longest recommended time I found on Tillandsia sites was 24 hours. The result? Happy air plants!
When I soak my plants at home, the average soaking time is two to four hours, once every week or two. I let my plants’ appearance guide me in determining when to water. After removing my tillandsias from their bath water, they feel turgid back on their Thigmotrope Satellite Fleet tillandsia holders they go. To gauge when to water again, I just give the plants a gentle squeeze. If the leaves look curled or dull or limp and have some give when I squeeze them, it’s time to water again.
To ensure even soaking, I flip my plants mid-soak.
My next assignment is to find a good air plant fertilizer regimen, because I want to encourage them to multiply and re-bloom. Can that be achieved in my filtered-light bathroom? We’ll see!
