Sunday 5 July 2015

Hectic times

It has been busy here, with a trip to Ireland for a wedding, lots of decorating for a visit from the inlaws, and finally a quick visit to the Hamption Court flower show.

The flower show was interesting, I don't normally visit them and we are having a mini heat wave and recorded the hottest June temperature ever on Wednesday. Combine that with thousands of people and you can imagine it was not the nicest place in the world to be. It was far too crowded to get many good photos, but will post a few later.

Again the number of people got in the way of any proper plant shopping, it got too frustrating constanly being nudged by people trying to get to the front and grabbing for plants.  In the end I gave up and settled for the few plants I picked up right at the start of the day.  Luckly this happened to be the only set of plants I really wanted: a set of air plants.  Top of the list was a tillandsia xerographica.


I have been after this for years, having seen it I think on Danger Gardens blog. It's really tough to get hold of in the UK, with only one or two stockists and being out of stock most of the time.  Anything after this was a bonus.

To keep it company, is this Houston Cotton Candy


A little tilandsia ionantha guatemala


And finally these two tilandsia ionantha


Having got the plants, you need something to grow them on.  Very conviently there was a wood stall near by, so I also picked up a few bits of wood to use as stands and also as dressing in pots.  Then the fun starts, what combination to go for?

A few plants on one log?


Perhaps a couple of logs?


What about three?


This is the one I settled for, mainly as it can be displayed as one set or separated out.  All the plants rest on the wood at present, if I continue to like it they may be attached more securely.

Now I just need to keep the alive. I was given strict instructions to dunk them in water and then dry them completly ensuring there is no water in the crown.  I am watering everything each Sunday at the moment in the hope of getting more consistent, so these are now on the watering list.


6 comments:

  1. Congrats on your new tilandsias - your xerographica is spectacular. And those wood pieces look real nice for their new homes. I got my first 5 tilandsias about 7 months ago. Four of them are still alive. I soak them about three times a week and hang them to dry before returning them to their places. I wish you best of luck with these wonderful plants.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. I am sure I would get as addicted to these as other plants, but thankfully have got much better at space management and knowing when to say know, so I wont be be buying many more (at least in the short term.)

      Delete
  2. Congrats! Those are most excellent purchases. After you give them a bath do turn them upside down to dry, I find that's the best way to allow the crown to dry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, was all your fault. I was told the importance of leaving them upside down for a while to dry. I am going to have to be very careful with them. She said a massive amount of damage has been done by garden centres saying the best way to water is to spray them, which of course results in water in the crown and rot.

      Delete
  3. Gooorgeous plants (and wood).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. I will have fun re-arranging them and trying out different combination.

      Delete