Back to the Tillies: Tillandsia streptocarpa

Alert Naturalist Baker named this delightfully fragrant Tillie in 1887. It means "twisted fruit", and that refers to the twisty seed pods. The name should have referred to the delightful perfume this Tillandsia emits when it blooms. The pale lavender flowers smell very much like wisteria and honey. Gorgeous....

Tillandsia streptocarpa, MRobb, 2015

T. streptocarpa grows in open woodlands from Peru to Bolivia, Paraguay to Brazil. It can grow at relatively low elevation, up to 2,300m! This is according to expert Paul Isley III, and you can find more info in his book, "Tillandsia II". This Tillie needs a little more light, water, and fertilizer than average in order to grow and bloom well. The blooms last for a month. Fragrant Tillies are unusual so if you get a chance to grow this one, go for it, you won't be disappointed.

A Great Read: Paul Isley III's "Tillandsia II"

I finally have it! The book I've been waiting for...the Ultimate Tilly Tome- "Tillandsia II" by Paul Isley III. Paul is arguably the most enthusiastic Tillandsia fanatic on Planet Earth.  A Californian, he's been studying, teaching about, and growing Tillies since 1974. This book is a labor of love and it's spectacular. My family gave it to me as a birthday gift and I was jumping around the living room after opening the package. Which wasn't easy considering the book weighs about 5kg.... It's not cheap (around $75 USA) but if you collect Tillies, save up for a copy if you can. It's worth it.

His first book, "Tillandsia", came out in 1987, and "Tillandsia II" in 2009. It's a 288-page coffee table book with lavish, very expensively produced illustrations of most Tillandsia species. Isley's enthusiasm for the subject is apparent from the very first- here's how he dressed up his family members for an illustration of how useful Tillandsias can be....

Hey, who had the idea of Tilly hairpieces first, the Isleys, Gardener Gail, or me?

OK, well, they win that round, their photo is from 2008, mine from 2013.

The book is easy to navigate, and can be read cover-to-cover, or piecemeal. I particularly like that Isley includes pronunciations for each species. "Latifolia" may be obvious, but "ixioides" is not! So thank you, Paul, for helping us out with that. Each Tilly is described, with natural history and care detailed. This makes it a wonderful resource for actual "Tilly Guardians" like myself. I've learned quite a few good tips since I started this book.

Of course I have to issue a warning: this book is a lemming-creator. I have over 50 species of Tillandsia in my collection, but now, after reading Isley, I've got a wish list of about 30 more.... In this sense, the book is more expensive than the cover price, but hey, they're Tillies, so they're worth it, right?

T. ionantha in bloom, MR, 2014

Tillies of the Month: Baileyi vs. Pseudobaileyi

Alert gardeners have asked me what the difference is between Tillandsia baileyi and Tillandsia pseudobaileyi. Since I have both in my garden, I thought I would find out!

Bailey is on the left, pseudobaileyi is on the right. According to Paul Isley III, they are both named for a mysterious V. Bailey. I was asked if this could possibly be B. Bailey, as in Beetle Bailey, as their greens are strikingly similar, but I don't think so....

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Anyway, T. bailey, the more slender figure on the left, grows in dry woods from Texas to Mexico at fairly low altitudes. It has neither stem nor bulb. But it can grow into a very impressive clump over the years. T. pseudobaileyi, on the right, comes from Mexico, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, and is a bulbous high-altitude Tillie. It prefers to grow sideways or upside-down. It actually looks a lot more like the much more common T. bulbosa, or perhaps T. butzii....

Tillandsia butzii

The confusion between the two species comes from the fact that the obviously bulbous T. pseudobaileyi was sold as true T. baileyi for many years. How they got so tangled up in each other is beyond me, but as you can see from the above picture, tangling is what Tillies do best. Or perhaps someone dropped a label and stuck it on the wrong plant. Who knows what was going on with those botanists, hoofing around in the wilderness back in 1900?? At any rate, it's very easy to tell the difference between the two, and they are both beautiful and worth growing.

A Great Read: Victoria Padilla's "Bromeliads" (1973)

I have about a dozen wonderful tomes on mesembs and succulents in my home library. But not too many on Tillandsias. In fact, until last week, I only had one book on the subject. Now I have two. Only a scant 3 or 4 books on Tillandsias have ever been published in English, and not too many more on bromeliads in general. My local library used to have Padilla's book on their shelves. I'd checked it out, returned it, then found to my dismay that they had thrown it out. OK, it was published in 1973, but it's a brilliant book, and one of the most comprehensive on Tillies ever published in English.  So off I went in search of a used copy. After a couple of months, I found one in good condition for under $15!

Victoria Padilla's book is chock full of info on over 100 species of Tillies. The book covers all bromeliads, but the Tillandsia section is particularly rich, with historical and scientific data, and unique photos. For example, here's an astounding image of wild Tillandsia straminea growing in profusion over a vast area of Peruvian desert during the last century:

Padilla, "Bromeliads", pg.  1

That is some kinda Tilly party!  Here's the wee T. straminea in my collection:

T. straminea, MR, 2013

Anyone seriously interested in bromeliads in general and Tillandsias in particular would enjoy thumbing through this book. It's occasionally available on Amazon, ebay, and through other booksellers. Paul Isley III published the beautiful "Tillandsia II" in 2010, and I aspire to own that book someday, though it's around $100. For now, I'm thoroughly enjoying my 1970s copy of Padilla's "Bromeliads".
What Tillandsia books have you found, and in what languages?