I like that you mention "lots of air flow", tarev. I have been preaching for years that this is one the most neglected of all the "care" conditions for growing tropical plants successfully. The main thing that each of us is after, or should be, is that we mimic growing conditions as closely as possible as what the plant would be subjected to in nature. Our plants are not subjected to low humidity and stale air where they grow wild. But that's what we too often give them. And then we wonder why the plants don't do well.

Yup and watering habits at times, when to scale back and when to resume usual watering, or the proper timing to repot, proper media to use, proper drainage, etc etc.. Lots of things..takes awhile at times to learn and understand whether plant is tropical or otherwise.

drdawg said:Most people think these plants need so much attention. They don't.

Yup. Obviously some things have to be just right for them to thrive like that, but to be clear, those were wild plants and nobody in the garden was doing anything to take care of them. In fact they were being stepped on in the path and I may or may not have rescued one from the trampling of humans.

I came across this pic while trying to consolidate my Butterfly ID project -
tilly on rock:
BF House, west of St L., run by Mobot.

So pretty jmorth!

I recently bit the bullet and "got into" these plants! I didn't want to begin a whole new obsession, but they are just too great! I now am the proud owner of several of these lovelies !

Looks great, Greg. A few more than "several". Here is a huge natural cork slab loaded with 8 different varieties, all native to Florida. One of the varieties is called "Giant Air-plant". You can see why. To give you a sense of proportion, the slab is approximately 18"x30".

10-30-15
12-16-16

my home air plant -

Welcome to your newest addiction, Greg

Ken that is awesome!! Looks so amazing, and I forgot FLA had their own airplants!
James - thank you! Yes I have wanted them for several years and finally went for it!
They are easier than I expected!

Thanks, Greg. I sort of drifted away from all the commercially available hybrids and wanted to have every single variety that grows in the US, most of which are in central and south Florida. I have ten varieties (but I don't count the Spanish moss).

Very nice Ken!

Do you have any of the Texas Ball Moss, Ken? It's everywhere here. I could easily scrape some off a tree and send it to you.

James do you have a photo of it? Does it look like spanish moss?

It Does look like Spanish moss a little, but it doesn't "string out", it stays in ball clumps and don't dangle. Here is the database entry for Ball Moss. Some pics from me, some from others in other states. Ball Moss can be found from Florida to Texas, but we call ours Live Oak Ball Moss. Not sure if there are any differences between the native varieties per state or not
Ball Moss (Tillandsia recurvata)

Boy, do I have Ball Moss. I have some from Baja that just blows my mind away. I don't know whether I can grow it like it grows wild, but I am trying. I have several Ball Moss specimens from Fl., and they are all about a baseball size. This from Baja, Mexico is larger than a grapefruit.

Beautiful, Ken! Ours definitely don't get that large.

Oddly enough, James, the lady (here in NGA/ATP) did not know what she had. She sent it to me to ID it.

That's not surprising though. I cannot tell you how many Floridians thought I was nuts when I said that Spanish Moss blooms every spring. These folks had grown up around Spanish Moss their entire lives, and some of them were in their 80's. Only when I posted photos of those flowers did I make believers of them.

Ken that is funny! Not the same but similar a few years ago I walked out of a friend's house who has lived in this house (and walked out this same front door) for 10 years,
and it was early spring and you could see across to some hills that are covered with large leafed maple trees (in spring they get a small bloom that is bright green) and the hill is sparkling with bright green color - I said "So pretty is this year different from other years?" She replied, must be I never noticed how pretty that is...now several years in a row - each one being the same, I realize she just hadn't noticed how pretty that hill is for a few weeks in early spring