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.

A cultivar of (capitata ‘Peach’ x concolor). A handsome, medium sized plant with an open rosette shape of fairly stiff, recurving, channeled, gray leaves. The inflorescence is about 12 inches tall, with long bracts and a clustered head of short, shiny, reddish branches and beautiful blue flowers. The upper part of the plant blushes peach color at anthesis.

This is a beauty and one of our favorite Tillandsias! We collected our original plants many years ago in Southern Ecuador and have propagated them since. An excellent species with many arching silvery-gray leaves in a 20 inch or larger rosette, with a beautiful branched rose-red inflorescence lasting for months.

Native to semi arid valleys and can often be found in trees near water courses. Somewhat of a slow grower but a spectacular plant at maturity. This species thrives with bright light and moderate watering and feeding.

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!

A clone of (aeranthos x leonamiana). A robust beauty to 6 inches tall with stiff, purplish-green, silver lepidote, upright, recurving leaves. Lavender flowers and bicolor pink bracts are borne on a 4 inch scape. Very easy to grow. 

An outstanding hybrid of unknown parentage, by Bill Timm, but we suspect it could be (Tillandsia ionantha x streptophylla). Bill made the cross and gave us the germinated seedlings on a wine bottle cork. He recorded the cross as what was to become ‘Baby’s Bottom’. 

When our plants began to flower it was evident that the plants were something else, but what? Bill agreed but did not know what the cross could have been. At any rate, he has registered the plant under another name.

It is a beauty with many narrow but succulent, recurving leaves in a bulbous rosette. The leaves are silver with trichomes and quite thick and stiff, the upper whorls blushing deep pink when blooming. The inflorescence has six or more pink branches that are nested in the center, rising just an inch above the foliage. Flowers are light blue. A very dense and heavy plant.

An accidental hybrid, probably made by hummingbirds visiting a greenhouse, is almost certainly a cross of (balbisiana x pseudobaileyi). This plant occurred amongst a group of seedlings of Tillandsia balbisiana supplied by a South American nurseryman. The shape of the plant is rather classic balbisiana in all aspects including size. The leaves though are semi-terete and have the striping like the T. pseudobaileyi. 

The inflorescence is like balbisiana in shape and size but has the color of pseudobaileyi. One can never be sure of such a cross, but in my experience I have never seen a hybrid that appeared as obvious as this one. A very striking plant.

Bill Timm’s cross of (ionantha v. vanhyningii x bulbosa) is pretty much just what you’d expect. The plant without a flower looks very much like a bulbosa is shape and size, perhaps a bit stiffer with thicker leaves. When in flower, the inflorescence is more like that of the ionantha v. vanhyningii parent, short, almost without a scape, with a cluster of tight branches and blue flowers. The top of the plant and the inflorescence blushes red at anthesis.

A natural hybrid of (schiedeana x caput-medusae). Resembling both parents, it has a semi-bulbous base like that of caput-medusae, but with straight leaves of schiedeana. The color is white lepidote with a branched red to rarely green inflorescence, producing bi-colored flowers. 

A hybrid that we got from a friend some years ago that is of unknown provenance, to us anyway. It has “the look” of a Steve Correale hybrid but we do not know for sure. This cross was also done by Paul Isley and his cross is named Tillandsia ‘Mr. Mal Mele’, but it is not the same as our plant.

Ours has broad, recurving, silvery leaves and a slightly bulbous base. The leaves blush pinkish on the upper part of the plant at anthesis. The inflorescence is about as tall as the body of the plant overall, with long scape bracts. It bears 6 or more branches that are held upright at a 45-degree angle to the scape. Floral bracts are bright red with some silvery trichomes. Flowers are violet. A very attractive plant with a long-lasting inflorescence.

An interesting hybrid of (capitata x extensa) by Steve Correale. Steve has been a fairly prolific hybridizer over the years but has registered few of his crosses. He does them to please himself, which is not such a bad thing, and doesn’t care much for naming them.

This plant has much more the look of the extensa parent, with long, narrow leaves and an excessively long inflorescence. Very long, pink and silver scape bracts and upright pink branches clustered at the top of the scape make it a showy plant. The foliage is dark reddish-brown but subtle, coated with silver trichomes that give it a pinkish tint. Easy to grow mounted. 

A small species with twisted foliage and fragrant light blue flowers. Native of Bolivia and Argentina where it grows in small clusters in the arid scrublands. The leaves are silvery, terete and somewhat kinked. Its inflorescence is like that of a streptocarpa, with light blue fragrant flowers. Grow bright and airy for best results.