A very showy plant that strongly resembles the more common Til. foliosa. A beautiful sub-mesic to mesic grower from Veracruz, Mexico that has narrow, reddish-green leaves in a 12 inch rosette, with a 12 inch inflorescence of crimson.

The scape has 1½ inch long branches that are only partly hidden by the long, red bracts. In foliosa, the bracts completely hide the branches. Does well potted or mounted.

*VIPP plants are Offsets

A John Arden hybrid of (jalisco-monticola x capitata). A tough and showy plant with leathery reddish leaves in a symmetrical, very leafy rosette. The inflorescence is a tight cluster of many dark orange branches in a capitate head with long scape bracts exceeding the branches. Very long lasting in color. A heavy plant, tough and sturdy, easy to grow. Grows well mounted or potted in a fast draining mix with good aeration. 

A robust form of Tillandsia funckiana that we got from a collector in Colombia.  We are not sure of the exact origin although most of the similar clones come from the Andes of Venezuela near the Colombia border.  The stems grow to 10 inches or so and have needle thing leaves to just over an inch long.  The leaves curve upward but this form is quite different from v. recurvifolia.  The overall color is green with a coating of silver trichomes and a red blush in strong light and at anthesis.  This form is like all others; a cliff dweller that forms cascading clusters.

A beautiful caulescent plant with short, broadly triangular, silvery-gray leaves and a stunning red-flowered inflorescence. A native of Bolivia where it lives a lithophytic existence on sheer rock cliffs, hanging in massive cascades. Care-free to grow, when mounted in a pendant fashion it freely produces offsets along its old stem, soon forming large attractive clusters.

Our stock came from a collection we made in 1993 in Bolivia. The excitement still lingers when I think of my fist encounter with the species in the wild. We had been traveling the rugged canyons that lay between ridge after ridge of the Cordillera de los Andes on Bolivia’s rugged and desolate eastern frontier.

On our satellite maps the terrain appeared to have been clawed by a giant jaguar, leaving parallel grooves hundreds of miles long etched deeply into the altiplano. We were weary from several weeks travel having seldom enjoyed a bed or hot meal. It remains a mystery why in such a relatively rich habitat for Tillandsias such as this, that one can travel for many miles and endless hours and not see a single plant! But on this dusty day our luck changed.

In a deep gorge where the escarpment walls seemed to rise and close in, causing dark shadows across the valley floor, we came into an incredible sight. Our first hint was an isolated cliff, across a muddy stream, that had a small colony of a caulescent Tillandsia. Crossing the stream, a break in the monotony of the day, I carried collecting pole and camera towards the cliff. Distance deceives among the stone monoliths of these haunting canyons and as the ‘bushes’ at the cliff base became large trees at my approach, so also did the Tillandsias disappear into the forest canopy.

Reaching the base of the cliff, I couldn’t even see the plants that lured me in the first place, as they were easily over a hundred feet overhead obscured by the canopy of the forest. However, with adrenaline coursing as it does when victory or discovery is in the wind, we drove onward to our reward. Not over a mile further on, the cliffs, which towered hundreds of feet tall, were covered with Tillandsias as far as the eye could see. Approaching this time we discovered that our long awaited prize was Tillandsia edithae!

Buy one now and save the bone-jarring, dust-eating, dangerous trip to Bolivia’s eastern desert.

Something of a mystery. We had this plant for years labeled as (ionantha x brachycaulos) which is the opposite cross of ‘Victoria‘ but it was quite different looking. Recently we examined this plant in bloom more closely and it appears that it is more likely a hybrid of (ionantha x caput-medusae) based on the leaf texture and inflorescence structure. Possibly a natural hybrid, it superficially resembles a giant ionantha to about 8 inches tall, with stiff, silvery leaves arranged in a recurving upright vase shape. The inflorescence is a short pink scape with blue flowers nested in the center. The whole plant blushes slightly reddish when in bloom. 

A showy hybrid of (capitata ‘Red’ x ionantha v. stricta) by Bill Timm. A nice plant about 6 to 8 inches tall that strongly resembles the ionantha parent with many narrow leaves in an upright, flaring, rosette. Green until blooming, when it blushes bright red.

A fairly newly resurrected species related to compressa and fasciculata, native to the State of Veracruz in Mexico. The type locality is near the town of Hidalgotitlán in the seasonally dry, broad leaf forests of the eastern Isthmus of Tehuantepec. A medium sized plant to about 20 inches tall with narrow, tapering leaves in an upright vase shape. The inflorescence is stunning, uprightly branched and bright yellow. An outstanding plant without any special cultural requirements other than typical for Tillandsias.

A natural hybrid of Till. argentina x tenuifolia. A clustering plant with very stiff, dark gray leaves tapering to a sharp point. The inflorescence is a lanceolate scape of pink with lavender flowers with an open corolla. Overall the plant takes more characteristics from the argentina parent.

The truth is, we suspect that this plant is not a fasciculata at all, but rather either a new species or one that we do not know about. For now though, for lack of a better name and because of its resemblance to that species, we will call it Tillandsia fasciculata ‘Yellow & Purple’. The plant is like a ‘typical’ fasciculata with an upright rosette formed of stiff, narrow leaves, but the inflorescence is rather stunning. A purple rachis with yellowish branches, showy and long lasting. If anything comes of the name, we’ll keep you posted.

A cute miniature with reddish, narrow leaves and a red scape with long bracts and a capitate head with blue flowers. An enigmatic plant discovered in Eastern Dominican Republic growing on tall limestone cliffs by Luis Ariza Julia and Prof. Eugene de J. Marcano. It was identified as Tillandsia capitata by Lyman Smith but a form never before seen. Later it was introduced to cultivation by Rauh as a varietal form of capitata and was given the provisional name of ‘Domingensis’ which was subsequently rejected scientifically, but serves well as a cultivar name to keep this diminutive form separate from the many mainland forms. Easy to grow mounted in bright light. Will form large clusters in time.

A cultivar of Paterson’s cross of (tenuifolia x recurvifolia). A small plant to about 4 inches tall and wide with stiff, gray-green leaves in a loose rosette. The plant much more closely resembles the tenuifolia parent in shape but is more silvery. The inflorescence is a short scape with deep pink bracts and white flowers, close to the recurvifolia parent. Easily forms clusters of plants and is a fast, easy grower. 

Somewhat resembles a Tillandsia brachycaulos in size and shape but less leafy. Leaves are somewhat stiff, shiny, and gray/green. The entire plant flushes pink or peach when in bloom, with a short scape. An epiphyte on shrubby trees in the scorching valleys of central Honduras. Definitely something different. Easy to grow.