Tillansdia ionantha

My first airplant

For something like four years, I just kept this one air plant, although I have a lot of house plants overall. It came in the glass bubble shown here, along with some decorative sand and bits of dead colored moss. We grabbed it at a garage sale being held by a Lawrence business, and only paid $1. I didn’t really do much to care for it. The glass holder got parked on a south facing window ledge, and I watered it when it occurred to me by running it under the faucet for a minute, then shoving it back in the bubble. It didn’t grow much (or bloom or blush or anything) but it didn’t die.

At some point down the road, I took the urge to clean the bubble off and remove the extra decorative crud. I started caring for it more intentionally, which was a bad thing in my ignorance. I put it in direct sun while it was still wet, which I thought would help it grow better, but in fact just sunburned it. It still didn’t kill this plant, but it stressed it for sure, and made it a lot less pretty.

Air plant number 1 is still growing. It’s just two inches tall but quite dense and succulent. It is outside with the rest of the collection for summer 2020, and seems to be putting on new growth at the typical slow rate you see for air plants. I hope it eventually gets to bloom and pup.