Airplants & Succulents Indoors
Tillandsias do need a daily spritzing of water and / or a weekly soak. I soak our tillandsias during our weekly housecleaning in the morning, and when I’m done I flip the tillandsias over (to prevent rot) and let them drip dry in our dish rack for a couple hours. Once every a month I’ll soak them in a diluted orchid / bromeliad fertilizer solution.
Succulents are perfect for indoor gardening. I dry the baby succulents, or pups, indoors for a couple days so they form a callous before I put them in the ground. Usually what happens, though, is I’ll forget them for months before I plant them. In the meantime, they become beautiful table centerpiece until I have time to place them in fast-draining cacti / succulent soil.
If table space is at a premium, you can also pop succulents into a vertical garden as a living art piece for your walls. Keep them near bright light (not direct light since it may cause them to fade or dry out more quickly). Bright light will prevent them from “stretching” to reach the light as they grow, and keep them from drying out as they’re prone to do. Choose small varieties like Echeverria spp. and sedums which won’t outgrow the space quickly.
Air Plants & SucculentsAir plants (tillandsias) and succulents are perfect for homes with sparse light or growing space. Although they’re not edible, they’re perfect for beginning gardeners to green up their space. Air plants are epiphytes, which are plants adapted to the humid conditions of the rainforest and absorb their nutrients from their leaves, so do not require soil. Here Flora Grubb artfully softens a Cor-Ten wall with strategically placed air plants that create an organic texture reminiscent of underwater creatures.
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