A hybrid of unreported parentage, but a nice one! A fairly large, robust grower to about 15 inches across with a full rosette of broadly triangular leaves that taper to a sharp point. The color is deep burgundy-black and the marginal spines are large and slightly lighter in color. A nice colorful plant that should make a great landscape subject.

*Domestic shipping only

Formerly Vriesea hitchcockiana, now classified as Tillandsia,  hitchcockiana has narrow, stiff leaves in a graceful rosette.  The inflorescence is pink, branched and very tall, with lavender flowers.  Native from Ecuador to Peru, it is a saxicole or epiphyte in nature.  It bears certain similarity to Vr. cereicola but lacks the stoloniferous habit of that species.

Tillandsia hitchcockiana and Vriesea cereicola are two species of gray leaved Vrieseas that are superficially similar. Both have stiff leaves and grow in a more or less tight, upright rosette. Their inflorescences, an overall pink, can be simple or branched. Some basic differences are this; hitchcockiana is a dark brownish gray and does not have stolons, cereicola is silver and is quite stoloniferous. Both are epiphytic or saxicolous, cereicola is fond of growing on cacti, hence the name.

This hybrid of (ampullacea x ‘Bright Spot’) by Paterson is an upright grower with inch wide leaves in a 10 inch high by 16 inch wide rosette on inch long stolons. The color is red with yellow-green mottling throughout. At anthesis the center colors slightly red.

*VIPP plants are Offsets

A cliff-dwelling species from central Mexico; San Luis Potosi, Queretaro, and Hidalgo. Possibly because of its pupping habit, unlike typical monocarpic utriculata, it is popular with hobbyists and easy to grow. A decorative species, with many leaves in an upright rosette, grayish silver and rather thin. The inflorescence is branched and red to orange or pink, with green and pale green, whitish flowers. Many offsets proliferate at the base of this subspecies and form a dense cluster in time. These little pups can be removed to start new plants at a very small size. Grows best mounted in bright light.

A tall grower in strong light, to about 24 inches in an upright, tubular rosette. The dark green leaves have silver banding on the undersides and large black spines. The bloom color is bright yellow-orange. Post bloom color is red and lasts for several months.

*Domestic shipping only

Mark Dimmitt’s cultivar of (didisticha x duratii) is a stunning plant. The foliage is very similar to that of duratii, with long, stiff leaves coated with silver trichomes and curled at the tips. The stem elongated but not to the extent of the straight species duratii. The inflorescence too is very tall, as in duratii, but is very dense and very branchy, much more so than duratii and has a lot of characteristics of the didisticha parent. The branches are bipinnate with a purplish coloration. On occasion multiple inflorescences are produced simultaneously. A dramatic and showy hybrid.

A hybrid of 'Tropiflora' x chiapensis by Steve Correale. A large rosette of dark pewter colored leaves that taper to a point. The inflorescence is a cluster of upright, nearly cylindrical branches of deep red with a coat of trichomes that mutes the intense color to a deep rose. The inflorescence is short but with the branches exceeds the leaves.

*VIPP plants are small, in bud

A nice small hybrid from Lisa Vinzant. A loose rosette of green leaves that turn orangish. As the plant matures, the plant develops brick red crossbands. Anthesis color is bright red.

A stunning hybrid that is a happenstance of nature. We imported a number of wild bromeliads from Mexico back in the 1980's and early '90s and this plant and one or two others of apparently the same natural cross: (streptophylla x botterii) were among them.

A large grower with characteristics of both parents. The basic shape of botterii along with the shape of the inflorescence but the thick texture and silvery trichomes of streptophylla. An upright, spreading vase, bulbous at the base, with silvery, half inch wide, fairly stiff, channeled leaves. The inflorescence is large, taller than the foliage with a red rachis and long, petiolate branches that are mostly yellow. A dramatic, beautiful plant. 

Tillandsia purpurea is found in Peru where it forms large colonies on the desert sands which may contain millions of plants of a single or a few clones. Adjacent valleys may have completely different looking forms which are in fact the same species. This happens to be one of the more desirable of Tillandsias due in part to its ease of cultivation and its colorful, fragrant flowers. We have four distinctly different forms in our collection: Tillandsia purpurea 'Desert Star' is so named due to it's desert habitat and beautiful star-shaped flowers.

An endemic rupicolous species that is native to Brazil. It is slow to propagate so it takes a while to have them available for sale. The plant forms a large open rosette, to over 30 inches across with recurving stiff green leaves that have large spines.

An as yet unidentified species of Crinum from Thailand found on limestone cliffs is something of a dwarf grower, to no more than 24 inches tall. The white flowers are compound, with double petals.

*VIPP plants have flushing new growth