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

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?