Tillandsia
Tillandsia ionantha
Grows clinging rather than rooted, with no soil involved — and it drowns as readily as it dries, so nothing is ever left standing.
Spacing & sowing
- Plant spacing
- 5.9 in
- In-row spacing
- 5.9 in
- Between rows
- 7.5 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
Growing
- Type
- Houseplant · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Sunlight
- Part shade
- Feeding
- All-purpose balanced
- Frost tolerant
- No
- Flowering
- June
Through the year
- Mar–Jun Spring Growth
- Jun–Dec Flowering
- Jan–Mar Flowering
Pests & problems
- Mealybugs Mealybug down in the leaf bases
- Scale insects Scale insects between the leaves
- Root & crown rot Root rot where a plant is left sitting in water
- Brown leaf tips when the air is too dry
Garden allies
Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. companion plant
- Hoverfly Syrphidae
Bee-mimicking flies whose legless larvae graze aphid colonies clean while the adults pollinate. A ribbon of shallow, nectar-rich flowers kept in bloom all season recruits wave after wave of them.
- Ladybird (lady beetle) Coccinellidae
The gardener’s favorite ally: adults and their alligator-shaped larvae each eat thousands of aphids, plus scale, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied sap-suckers. Grow flat, open flowers for the adults and never spray a colony that ladybird larvae are already working.
- Green lacewing Chrysoperla carneaHunts Mealybugs
Its bristly larvae — "aphid lions" — impale aphids, mealybugs, thrips, and mite colonies, eating hundreds a week. Adults feed on nectar and pollen from small open flowers and overwinter in hollow stems left standing.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com