# Tillandsia fuchsii v. gracilis



## mrhappyrotter (Feb 6, 2017)

Tillandsia fuchsii v. gracilis

Okay, I know it's not an orchid. And yes, I'm aware I've posted this before. But, I like this little plant so much, and I think it's been awhile since it bloomed last.

This is a really cool miniature Tillandsia. The pin cushion silvery green growths are very attractive. At times it reminds me of moss, other times it reminds me of pine needles. The flower spikes remind me of super colorful Agave or Yucca spikes.

I try to prop this up close to the lights while it's growing, the Cattleya is only its temporary home while it blooms. My Tillandsia cyanea definitely produces much more brightly colored bracts if I move it into bright light while it blooms, so I employed the same tactic with this clump of T. fuchsii. I believe I picked this up at Tropiflora about 10 years ago or so. It's not been the fastest of growers, but I now I have 2 nice multi-growth clumps. They look like they'd be xeric (dry environment) growers with their stiff & fuzzy leaves, but in fact, I spray them pretty much daily, and drizzle water onto them at least twice a week. The other clump is mounted to a piece of cork, and I definitely padded that a bit with sphagnum moss, just to hold a little extra moisture at the root zone. On the flip side, they can handle a drought almost as well as any succulent. Other than that, it gets unremarkable care, I keep it indoors at warm to slightly cool temperatures and I don't feed heavily.






















Best part of it all is that they are usually pretty inexpensive, and not too terribly hard to find if you're shopping around online.


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## SlipperFan (Feb 6, 2017)

Cool flowers!


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## Paphluvr (Feb 6, 2017)

Great companion plants for the orchids. Generally enjoy the same conditions as the orchids.


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## abax (Feb 6, 2017)

Rather odd, but very attractive.


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## Don I (Feb 7, 2017)

Excellent. I'm waiting on a T. butzii to flower. It's had a flower stock for a while. I was searching on line and discovered a tiny flower shop less than 5 min. from me that sells them.
Don


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## Ozpaph (Feb 11, 2017)

an oddity


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