As far as I can make out, a puya?

Nice setup! I too remember that change from drving to Sedona from Phoenix.

I see a little Tillandsia in the foreground. Maybe an ionantha?

I know the snake is faux, but what about the skink? He doesn't seem to be moving much....

I see the shooter on the grassy knoll! :-O

Sure does look like a Till in front, recurvifolia? Tricolor? Not enough leafage for flabelatta. Hmmm.

I think my terrarium needs professional help.
Since you guys are as close as I know to professionals, here I am!
Its been set up for over a year. It used to be my husband's reef tank, had colorful saltwater fish and corals and stuff, but when the power went out for over 2 weeks during the 2004 hurricanes, everything died, and he didn't have the heart to redo it all over again.
So I made it into a terrarium. The far left side has a thick layer of loose crumbled treefern. In the center there is a "hill" of coral and shells. The far right is a "pool". There is a small pump under there that circulates water back over the "Hill" to trickle down a shell back to the pool.
Originally I was going to try dart frogs, but changed my mind and there are no animals in it. The lighting is one metal halide bulb which was for the hard coral that used to be in there when it was an aquarium.
Now I only have a few broms and one orchid which has done extremely well, an Angraecum distichum. It blooms a lot. Its a miniature.
The broms are:
Neo Fireball
a very common silver tillandsia I don't know the name of
Neo Wee Willy
Neo concentrica x ampullacea
an Aechmea I forgot the name of, its a species, the largest spotted plant in the center
The succulents were freeloaders that hitched in on the chunks of fossil coral I brought in from the yard

WHat else would any of you suggest I put in?

I tried (and failed) with:
Macodes petola
Ludisia discolor
Dendrobium loddegessii
String of Hearts succulent

I thought I might try a few strands of a small leaved hoya or something. I just think it needs something else.

Bihai, try small size Cryptanthus, such as C. beuckeri, C. 'Cafe Au Lait', C. acaulis,
C. microglazioui, C. lacerdae 'Menescal', C. 'Marian Oppenheimer', C. 'Le Rey'

Small leaves varieties of Fittonia, such as F.verschaffeltii or F. argyroneura Nana.
Episcia is also nice in terrarium, especially E.'Pink Bocade' or E.'Cleopatra'

philofan: Thats a good idea,a puya...and I have one thats got some small offsets...so I may add one in.. But the one there is not a puya.Nice try tho.

Mike: Yep,you took the same drive to Sedona that I did.
Unforgetable landscape there.

Lisa: you got it right,just a common Til.ionantha.Congrats!
You win the all expense trip to Hawaii,lucky you! ;^)

Gonzer: The shooter on the grassy knoll you got ok,but missed the ionantha? You,the Til. expert? tsk,tsk.

bihai: I wish I could suggest something,but I really don't know kinds of plants,other than bromeliads.I just furnished mine by their size and variety. I think Stephania's suggestions are worth consideration,nice small,easy and colorful growers.Maybe some Deuterocohonia brevifolia and lorentziana clumps too.Perhaps some more mini orchids or gray tillandsias? Depends on how much room you have,but I'm sure you will come up with the best suited selections.And then we can see a photo maybe ? One suggestion,if the plants you have do better with air circulation,you can purchase the small fan that is used in computers at Radio Shack,and hook it up to a dry cell battery set outside the terrarium,using small guage wires.Easily hidden,and can be fastened to the light fixture.Works great.

Bob
PS: There are two snakes,one small yellow frog,
(hard to see)and two lizard(?)types in there.
[all fakes]... See 'em?
[the shooter on the knoll has left the area] ;)

WOO HOO! I can hardly wait!

Bob, do you know if they speak english there? Do they have houses or will I have to stay in a little grass shack? Should I bring money or can I just buy things with puka shells? And tell me again which side I'm supposed to wear the flower on.....

The lighting hood has its own built in fan that dissipates heat. That's why I didn't just ditch it and get another hood, this was a special order job that cost about $800 and has fixtures/ballasts for 2 heavy duty metal halides and 2 VHO tubes (all for coral growing). I can't use regular lights (like Grow Lights) in the VHO sockets, the ballast will blow them out. And 2 metal halides are TOO MUCH! So I just have one going. Seems to work for what's in there. I'll see if I can get photos

here are photos of my sad little terrarium.
{{gwi:449431}}
{{gwi:449432}}
{{gwi:449434}}
{{gwi:449436}}

I dunno Bob, there aren't a lot of leaves for ionantha. Your plant left, FCBS pic on right.
{{gwi:449438}}

bihai- Do you have a glass lid to keep in humidity? I'm assuming not if it was used for a reef tank. You should think about picking one up from a local glass shop, assuming it could withstand the MH. Some other common terrarium plants would be creeping ficus, smaller ferns, and assorted mosses. For the water area you could use some Anubias or other plants they market as "fully aquatic".

Sorry, I meant "creeping fig", Ficus pumila.

No, I don't have the glass hood. I could lower the ballast hood off the blocks, but then I am afraid it would get too hot with the MH light.
If I was smart, I would ditch the MH Ballast top altogether and get a regular light hood that I could put regular bulbs in, but I hate to waste that expensive piece of equipment.
I may have to do that though, if I ever want to really have it as a real terrarium.
The other mistake I made was that, when I cemented the cork bark to the glass of the tank, I didn;t install an "octupus" to drip water down the sides. I thought I could get by with just hand misting daily. I can, but its a real pain.

Its a 'baby' ionantha,gonzer,it came from a shell souvenier that a friend brought back from Florida for me.
I've got some ionantha clumps,so I'm familiar with the normal appearence of them.But right now,it does look like the other Til's you mentioned.The one in the terrarium isn't growing much,as its a very dry atmophere,but I do soak it every so often.
bob

It's probably the scale of your terrarium that's making me loopy Bob. BTW, I failed to mention...it looks great!
Bihai, yer last pic , whazzit? Kinda looks like an Asplenium species. And where are the greenhouse update-photos we've been waitin' for???

Bob,

I just watched an episode of "Great American
Gardens" on HGTV which featured your beautiful
BBG!! They interviewed two men named 'David',
didn't catch their last names. I waited for
them to show a handsome, young man named 'Bob',
but they never did. :-(

ctnchpr,
One of the Davids',was David Hedley,the Director at the time of filming,and a good friend.About two years ago,he took a position in another State.He did much to get the BBG reorganized and in good shape.The new staff over the past two years have advanced what Dave started,and are in the process of a 10 year rebuilding plan that includes many building updates and rehabs,to include an all new planting scheme.The first project is to be the new epiphyte house,and is about 95% ready for its new planting display.We recently had a posting of all the new bromeliads ordered from Michaels for this project.(see Dec.17th & Dec.20th posts).So I'll have some new pics as this takes on form in the near future.
And 'Bob' was kept at arms length when they were filming,which was probably a good idea. ;^) Ironically,I never did get to see that program when it was aired on our pbs station here. ;(
Bob

Hey Lisa !
To answer your 3/5/07 questions above,
re: your all-expense Hawaii trip,...Q#1 They read and write English ok,the just don't speak it.
Q#2-3,the answer is 'yes'.
And the flower Question,...I believe you're supposed to wear it on your 'backside' (heh heh)
Have a nice trip !
Bob

Gonzer.
That is none other than the loverly little orchid Angraecum distichum. I've tried a few orchids in there and that is th eonly one that has thrived.

Very cool plant Bihai.