Some time ago I had mentioned that Spanish moss was a tillandsia and actually bloomed. I don't think anyone really believed me, since lots of us have lived our entire lives in the deep south and never saw it bloom. Well, here are a couple of the tiny bright green flowers on my Spanish moss. The brownish thing you see is the seed pod from last springs' bloom. All my moss is starting to bloom.

Ken, the blooms are insignificant, but bloom they do, even in our desert climate. They don't become new plants here, due to lack of humidity, but I have had them last 5 years.

Just spray them/mist them, just like you would any other epiphyte. You would be surprised how they grow.

I live in NE Mississippi. Several years ago I asked a Mississippi Master Gardner (probably around 2010 when I became interested in becoming a Master Gardener myself) why I never saw Spanish moss growing in my county. In 1995, I moved from the Mississippi Gulf coast, and Spanish moss was everywhere. Anyway, the Master Gardner said that it would not grow in my adopted county. Just too cold. and just too hot, and just too dry. Excuses, excuses, excuses. Well, I love a challenge so I took it upon myself to grow Spanish moss here. I "borrowed" a bag full of Spanish moss from the Pascagoula area and transplanted onto the limbs of my oaks. I would guess, over the last four or so years, that same Spanish moss has doubled and then doubled again in size. Now understand, this Spanish moss is "pampered". During the spring, summer, and early fall, while all my tropical plants are outside, under the oaks and cedars, when those plants get watered and fertilized, so does the Spanish moss. I am sure my neighbors think they have a crazy man living among them. Who every heard of watering and fertilizing Spanish moss? Regardless, even after our horrifically cold winter this year, the Spanish moss continues to grow (at least twice as fast as the average, "wild" Spanish moss) and blooms profusely.

So that's the story behind my Spanish moss. I would like to tell you that I always knew Spanish moss bloomed. I saw my very first bloom last spring, but until I saw all the seed pods later in the summer and fall, I really didn't even know what I was looking at.

That is nice .

Haven' seen it lately, but they were selling (bagged) here for awhile. A friend gave me a piece, and I kept it going for about 5 years. Aside from too hot and too dry, our water is too alkaline for long term misting.

Got it, Carol. Well, keeping it going for 5 years was probably about as good as you could have done. That's too bad. Spanish moss not only looks great hanging from trees, particularly when it is found no where else in an area, but also draped around other epiphytic plants such as orchids, bromeliads, and staghorn ferns.

Just wanted to show off my cute little tillandsia ball. My kids gave this to me as a gift for Xmas a few years back, and it just gets bigger each year and blooms with these pretty little blue flowers twice a year as well.

Ken, I have tried repeatedly to keep Spanish Moss going here. I guess it's just too hot, or I don't keep it hydrated enough. I have only seen one tree here with moss on it. It is in the middle of Austin between busy streets and Loop 1.

I do have quite a bit of ball moss, however. I thought you'd smile at one of my entries in the garden show last week. It received a first place and a green thumb (a merit score of 95 points or more). A few of the judges were from north Texas, so perhaps they aren't familiar with Tillandsia recurvata. I guess presentation is everything!

I like it, Sandi. Way to go! I don't know why you can't grow Spanish moss. Though you would be less humid than we here in Mississippi, we sure do get hot and stay hot from June through September. I would guess our average high is 90-95 from July till September, and 100's are not unusual. Of course, I was told by Master Gardeners that I could not grow Spanish moss here in NE Mississippi, but I proved it can be done and that it can actually flourish here. But I cheat. When the rest of my hundreds of tropical plants get watered and fertilized, so does my Spanish moss. I was worried that I might lose it all because of our severe and prolonged winter, but it all came through fine. My Spanish moss is all blooming now with tiny, green flowers.

Is that the recurvata, Elaine? None of mine are blooming but they seem to be doing fine. My simulata are still in bloom though.

No idea which one it is, Ken. It arrived with a bow on it but no tag. It's a whole bunch of small plants anchored to a tree fern ball in the middle.

I had thoughts of making these as holiday gifts for my friends right up until I priced the little plants up at Tropiflora. Couple of bucks for each plant, and there must be 20 plants on this little ball . ..

Ken, the Tillandsia was supposed to be humorous. The judges are picky about spots on leaves, dirt on pots, etc. I thought surely, they'd know that wasn't a true entry. As for the Spanish moss, I think I just don't keep it moist enough. It can get very dry in the afternoons here during summer. If I still had my mister system going behind the pond, it might grow there. Just too many interests to keep me busy. I grew up in Biloxi and I never saw the moss bloom either. Quite a few of the cemetery plots near the beach had shade structures covered in Spanish moss.

My Spanish moss flowers. Look for the two tiny green flowers. The brown seed-pods of last years bloom is shown well in the second photo.

My moss came from Pascagoula, my previous home from 1971 till 1995.

Could have sworn that I posted these.
Here is my living wreath looking pretty happy and blooming.

Very nice, Holly. Do you see any flowers on your Spanish moss? It should be blooming, though most people think I am crazy for saying this plant (tillandsia) blooms.

Ken did you put those pictures in the database?

I haven't noticed flowers but the other day I thought it was looking a rather bright green. There is a rather wide flower bed in front of the wall so it is a bit hard to get very close to it.

I did not, Hetty. I just assumed they were there. You are referring to the Spanish moss, right?

I guess I need to check the other native Florida tillandsia that I now have. Perhaps they need to be posted as well.

I haven't posted any plants for quite a long time. It seems like posting my orchids were such an "ordeal", I just gave up on doing this.

I'm sorry you think this is an ordeal. The database is a very important feature of ATP.
I have proposed both your pictures above for the database.
Adding pictures to the database gets you acorns!!!
Dave has recently changed the rules so that if your picture is the first for a plant, you get not one but TWO acorns for it.
Even if you are not sure of the species, you can always add your pictures to the general listing for the genus.

I only had problems when listing my orchids. The way the Data Base was set up just did not work with orchids. Orchid nomenclature can be radically different than any other plant nomenclature and I simply could not get the name(s) entered. I approached Dave about the problem and he admitted the problem. That was over a year ago so perhaps the situation has changed since then. Since it was taking me so long to enter an orchid, and as often as not, the name was rejected, I just gave up.

Thanks for putting the Spanish moss in for me.