On a lunch break one day about a month ago, a co-worker and I stopped by the local garden store. There we saw these tiny little cactus-looking plants that were light as feathers, seemed pretty dry, and were not potted in soil, but instead attached to driftwood, wired to a gazebo, or just set into little pots with nothing holding them in.
My co-worker bought one for me and one for herself... they were tiny ones, less than three inches tall. We learned that they are called "air plants", "airplants", or Tillandsia, and they don't need soil. They will flower once in a while, and they just need a misting of water or a weekly drench to stay alive and thrive. Someone told me they grow all over Florida, but to me, they are pretty exotic.
I started reading about Tillandsia on the internet, and eventually I went back to the garden store and got a few more small specimens in the $2 - $5 range. At work, my friend Ashley admired the ones I had brought back to the office, so I gave her one. I then ordered a specimen online... it's a huge ball bigger than a big grapefruit, and it has a thin wire attached for hanging. My intention was to hang it, but after reading the instructions, I realized the most suitable place in the apartment was on an open shelf under a frosted skylight, so I placed it there. Not since carnivorous plants when I was a child and orchids for the last several years have I been so fascinated and enamored of a plant. Much like when you're infatuated with a new lover, I think about Tillandsia about fifty times an hour.
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