Friday, February 3, 2012

Tillandsia Delights in the Garden Show 2012


The Philippine Horticultural Society, Inc. garden show and exhibit at the Quezon Memorial Circle, Quezon City is still going on till the weekend. I was there last Saturday and really had fun. A cloudy sky is good for such open exhibits, for us not feeling sticky with the high humidity here in the hot tropics. And photos are also better during overcast skies. 

I made my posts into plant groups, last Monday i had the foliage plants which caught my fancy, and next to this will be bonsai. I did not get the plant IDs as it is quite time consuming, and i regret to tell you, i forgot my ballpen. Whew!

Tillandsias are epiphytes or air plants, which means they get their food and water from the air through their leaves, not from the soil through the roots. But it doesn't mean they should be left on their own to get their nourishment and water. They just have special caring needs, and once you know them they are easy to care for. A good discussion of cultural management is HERE.

At the center of the stage where lectures are held twice a day, this corsage is one of the many decorations. I took this not only for the Dianthus, but also for the Tillandsia usneoides (locally known as 'Buhok ni Ester' or Ester's hair) which made the arrangement more fabulous.

a focal point of a landscape design

sat on a pedestal made more delightful with the beauty of the driftwood they are mounted on 

 another fabulous creation looking like a well manicured bonsai, which got the first prize in its category

a table of already flowering tillandsia for sale at the commercial booths 

These photos of Tillandsia cyanea are from the one i cared for in my office two years ago. I was then on travel for a few days, when it was neglected by the caretaker. She watered it after being heated with the full morning sun, which stressed it, the roots rot and eventually die. Since then i haven't taken another one again, for fear of having it suffer the same fate. 

Tillandsia cyanea was cared for 2 years here at the east side of my office window. It received direct light only in the morning. At least, I was able to make it flower inside the confines of an air-conditioned room before it died.


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23 comments:

  1. These are quite amazing plants, Andrea! Lovely photos, looks like it was a great show.

    Thank you for participating in Floral Friday Fotos!

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  2. That plant show sounds wonderful. I especially love the bonsai lookalike. If you had that in your garden, I wonder how many people would be guessing what it was.

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  3. The pretend Bonsai is such a wonderful creation. Obviously the show was well worth the visit. The Tillandsia you had blooming at your office was indeed quite lovely.

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  4. ...all flowers and all colors are wonderful here...

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  5. Must have been a great show.
    Great shots of all the beautiful plants.

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  6. Andrea I have always been fascinated by these plants...they are so different...

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  7. These are wonderful pictures of some beautiful plants. I've always been fascinated by bonsai. I was sorry to hear about your office plant.

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  8. they are so pretty. i love looking at them at the nursery.

    btw, in regards to the question you left on my blog. nope my husband is not caucasian. he's asian, but not filipino.

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  9. Wow, the tillandsias in bonsai looks like a beautiful piece of art.

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  10. The use of Driftwood surely adds to the beauty of the plant. Lovely pic.

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  11. Wonderful series, Andrea. You have to know that you caught my fancy with this post.

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  12. Andrea I have awarded you a Leibster Blog Award as one of my favourite blogs. (see my blog for details)

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  13. How sad you lost your Tillandsia. It was just gorgeous! What a wonderful plant show! They had many interesting and wonderful plants and I am enjoying seeing them!

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  14. Absolutely gorgeous, Andrea... Everytime I go into the tropical area at Biltmore (Indoor Conservatory), I always wish you were with us to tell us what the names of all of those gorgeous plants are...

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  15. Gorgeous plants Andrea! I was just admiring all the beautiful Tillandsias displayed at Kew gardens a few hours ago, wish we could grow more of these here :)

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  16. Andrea,Tillandsias have always fascinated me. Great shots and I don't mind that you forgot your pen.

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  17. Andrea did the pink in the tillandsia not fade in your sunlight - I get many customers complaining that the colour has gone from theirs and I keep telling them to move it more into the shade.

    LOVE that bonsai tree with the little tillandsia's.

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  18. Hi there!
    I love Tillandsias. They are great plants but I unfortuneatly kill them every single time. Great post! Hope you are well.

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  19. gorgeous shots all of them. Nicely planted too. :)

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  20. What a lovely office window! Unfortuatnely we have NO natural light at all!

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  21. Love air plants. I keep twelve different species of Tillandsia, two are blooming now. :-) Great post.

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  22. Beautiful plants. The ones arranged on the driftwood are really splendid!

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