By Cindy McNatt
The Orange County Register
Summer and tillandsia centerpieces go together. Both are about hot weather, vacation-friendly settings and taking it easy.
This tillandsia centerpiece couldn’t be an easier to put together, either. There are four ingredients:
Small glass vase
White sand
Green gravel
A small tillandsia, also called an air plant
Most air plants grow on the tops of tree tops in tropical places of the world. Because they are ephiphytes, like bromeliads and orchids, they can grow without soil around their roots. This gives us lots of un-fussy opportunities to use them for a bit of green, without messing with potting soils and other traditional garden supplies.
Tillandsias do need moisture, though. And a fine leaved kind like this one will want a spritz of warm water almost every day. Alternately you can dunk them for a few minutes. And think about feeding them once a month with a weak solution of plant food during the warm, growing months.
Layer the sand and gravel in your clear glass vase to a design you like. Simply place the tillandsia on top and you’re done. Seriously, I said it was easy.
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