Many years ago I acquired my first specimen of this fine Tillandsia from Fred Fuchs, famed orchid collector and explorer, and never dreamed that I would ever see it growing wild. Years later our explorations took us to the arid scrub forests of western Ecuador and northern Peru where this plant was abundant, often in the crowns of towering Bombax trees.

A beautiful species with rather thin, very dark gray, stiff, almost brittle leaves in a symmetrical open rosette that can reach 18 inches across.

The inflorescence, a tall spike with a cluster of short branches, develops slowly, becoming vivid lacquer red and lasting in color for months.

This is a very odd hybrid that doesn’t much resemble either parent. Assuming that the reported cross is correct, the plant does not have the thick leaves of either parent, the long stem or curled leaves of duratii or an inflorescence resembling either parent in any way. The flowers are large, spreading and light blue, borne on a tall scape with green bracts. The foliage is silvery, stiff, straight and forms a leafy rosette. Whether this hybrid is correctly identified remains a question, at least to me, but does not take away from the fact that this is a handsome plant.

An unusual cross of (baileyi x achryostachys) by Patterson. An upright rosette with few leaves, about 12 inches tall. The foliage is narrow, fairly soft and silvery. A simple inflorescence is lanceolate in shape, mostly green but tinted pink. 

A hybrid of (brachycaulos x schiedeana). Upright to 10 inches, it has rather narrow leaves and an attenuated inflorescence that forms a tightly capitate head. A late-spring bloomer, with rosy-blushing silvery leaves and yellow flowers. This is a very interesting and different-looking plant. 

A beautiful cross by Bob Spivey of (roland-gosselinii x chiapensis). It has the fuzzy, velvety look of chiapensis, but an inflorescence that betrays the cross. A fairly short red scape bearing long branches that are red on bottom and bright green on top, with blue flowers. The foliage is silvery, tinted pinkish in strong light. A real beauty. About 16 to 18 inches wide and nearly as tall when in bloom. 

A Joe Carrone hybrid of (brachycaulos x streptophylla). An open rosette of light green, curling, silvery dusted leaves form a somewhat bulbous base. An inflorescence that has long, pinkish-lavender blushing bracts and a tight cluster of pinkish branches rises about 6 inches above the foliage. A handsome, easy to grow and prolific plant. 

We first got this plant from a friend under formula, before the name ‘Nugget’ was given and registered. This is a cultivar of crocata x duratii by Barry Genn, both species highly fragrant but the hybrid of the two barely so. That said, it’s beautiful!

Our plant originally was quite small and ‘wimpy’ with few leaves and kind of scrawny looking. Under the care of Veronica our Tillandsia grower, it has become a much larger, robust plant with a nicely branching inflorescence and curling, silvery leaves.

The flower color is buttercup yellow, kind of surprising with the normally dominant duratii in the mix, but all better for it. We have found that if kept well fed and in good light and air circulation, the plant is vigorous and will produce offsets. Different and attractive. 

NO HOLDING - MUST SHIP IMMEDIATELY

An interesting cross of kegeliana x rothii for which we have little information. The plant most certainly show strong influence of the rothii parent with an open rosette shape of wide, fairly stiff leaves and a branched inflorescence of inflated branches. The kegeliana doesn’t manifest itself much but definitely makes the plant look a lot different than a pure rothii. The flowers are white.

A large-growing Tillandsia that fits closer with fasciculata than anything else, with silvery-gray leaves to 24 inches long in a very large and full rosette. The inflorescence is massive, reaching well above the foliage on a thick scape, supporting a head of up to 20 fat bright-red braches up to 8 inches long and an inch thick.

The inflorescence lasts in good color for over a year. A likely natural hybrid of fasciculata x compressa that we got from Jamaica over 40 years ago.

This beautiful species is native to only a couple of isolated canyons in central Honduras. A large upright grower to over 30 inches, with stiff, reddish leaves and an inflorescence of long pink, upright, terete branches.

In nature it lives at the base of cliffs, supporting itself against rocks and other plants. In cultivation it can be kept bare root, mounted or may be potted in a well drained media.

A smallish species of Tillandsia that grows on a long stem.  The narrow, stiff leaves are 2 to 3 inches long spaced along the stem and taper to a point.  The overall color is dark purplish with a silvery tint.  The inflorescence is a 2 inch scape with bright pink bracts and flaring blue flowers.  Clumps are easily formed and once a clump forms, the plants can be suspended from a string for cultivation. 

Native to Rio Grande do Sul in Southern Brazil, it has a strong resemblance to T. aeranthos though it must be significantly different enough to deserve species status.  Our plants came originally from the collection of Elton Leme.