My Tillandsia Tree

2012 is starting off very exciting. Apartment Therapy will be shooting my house AND the store so we have been busily getting ready for both. You know that old saying, have a party if you really want a clean house? Well have a photo shoot if you want it way cleaner (and way more decorated!)

Because I have seen so many amazing places on Apartment Therapy in the past, I really wanted to do a few special things so one thing I decided to do was make a Tillandsia Tree. I’ve been wanting to make one of these for a while and thought I’d share the process.

First off I got a bleached Manzanita branch. We sell them some times at the store, but they can also be purchased downtown at the flower mart at places like Wasabi Green. The Mart is open to the public on Saturday mornings. Any tree branch could work, however. Next you want to take the branch and cement it into a pot. You could also use sand if cement freaks you out. Gather your other items, plants…I used Tillandsia Stricta ‘grey leaf’ because I liked it’s poufy quality and it’s silvery color. Something to cover the top of the cement…I used reindeer moss and something to glue the plants to the branches.

There is an actual special waterproof glue made especially for gluing air plants but in case you can’t find any, hot glue will also work, just don’t let it get too hot. Also another good tip, keep the glue upright when you are working with it to keep it from getting too messy.

Drop a generous dollop of glue on the stem of the plant being careful not to completely smother the roots.

Try to use natural “forks” in the branches to help you support the plants as it takes a while for the glue to dry.

And presto, your very own Tillandsia Tree. I love the Dr Seuss quality, almost like a miniature Dracaena. For care you’re going to want to spray it heavily probably once a week. Normally I would soak any air plant I kept inside every 10-14 days but that won’t be possible done this way. You may want to take it outside once in a while and just hose it off. Tillandsias are very hearty outside.

Would love to see any trees you make.

Tags: air plant, apartment therapy, diy project, tillandsia, tillandsia tree

This entry was posted on Friday, January 20th, 2012 at 6:26 am and is filed under Post. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.