Just in time for Halloween -- Spooky Tillandsias! Sitting on top of a lil' pumpkin, these Tillandsias grow so fast it's SCARY! 

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. 

A really wild looking hybrid blushing light red when in bloom and forming a capitate inflorescence. Multiple bright orange-red spikes protrude from the capitate head for a completely bizarre look. (capitata x flabellata) (Bak)

Our stock originated from Mitch Rabin of Living Colors Nursery and selected out over many years by Tropiflora grower Veronica Orozco.

This hybrid of (leonamiana x ixioides) is pretty much what you’d expect of this cross. An open rosette of narrow, arching, stiff leaves of silvery gray and an inflorescence that is tall and slender with a few short branches at the top, silver dusted orange bracts and yellow flowers. Easy, prolific and showy.

Tillandsia 'Chévere' is an unusual Tillandsia hybrid of (limbata x paraensis) by Bill Timm. About as different as you can get from one another, one parent, paraensis, being a soft leaved and bulbous based with a branched pink inflorescence with somewhat inflated bracts and not particularly easy to grow. The other parent, limbata, is an upright rosette of fairly stiff, tapering leaves up to 20 inches long that bears a very tall, branched inflorescence of red, but that is not particularly beautiful.

The hybrid of the two is very pretty, medium-large in size with an upright vase shape of narrow, somewhat stiff leaves of silvery gray. The inflorescence is a branched scape, about a foot taller than the rosette, with inflated pink bracts and light blue flowers.

This Tillandsia came to our collection from the late Bill Soerries collection after his passing in 2013. There are several without names and some that have defied identification. This plant is one of those. It's an obvious hybrid with Til. ionantha, but with what? We don't know for sure. It has a short but branched inflorescence. It does not seem to match anything in the BSI Cultivar Registry.

Tillandsia 'Chickasaw Bill' (Til. ionantha x ?) The name is to honor Bill Soerries, who used to own the famous Chickasaw Club in Columbus, Georgia.

A colorful hybrid of (capitata ‘Red’ x concolor ‘Cuicatlan’) by Bill Timm. Bill has been a prolific hybridizer of Tillandsias, creating quite a few unique crosses. This one is a medium sized plant about 12 inches tall when in bloom, with stiff glabrous green leaves in an open rosette shape. The inflorescence is about 6 inches tall with very long, stiff, scape bracts and a cluster of erect yellowish branches. The scape bracts and upper whorl or two of leaves blush deep reddish at anthesis. A colorful plant that will grow easily and add color to your collection. 

A beautiful hybrid of Tillandsia lenca (formerly fasciculata 'Hondurensis') x ehlersiana by Bob Spivey. At maturity this bulbous beauty produces a pastel pink erect inflorescence.

*Blooming photos by Bob Spivey

Mark Dimmit’s hybrid of the same grex as ‘Houston’, a (stricta x recurvifolia) cross. Larger than either parent, it has many silvery, semi-soft leaves in a full 8 inch rosette. The large semi-pendant inflorescence has bright rose-red bracts. A very showy plant!