Urban Habitat

I had a very lovely with my best friend of 20 years. My basil plant is starting to appear healthier, my sunflower seedlings are growing, and I got a few new plants (houseplants 33, 34, and 35) – i miei gorgoni, or my gorgons.

The gorgons are three airplants: a “caput medusae,” a “capitata peach,” and a very teenie-weenie “crocata.” Now, I didn’t/don’t know much about air plants – I was gifted some when I was younger but my dad takes care of them now – so it was time to do some research.

Peep my cat doing her own research:

My first research method is, as always, ASK THE PLANT LADY YOU GOT THE PLANTS FROM. So I asked her about caring for these little dudettes and she said:

• Soak 20 minutes once a week, making sure the tips definitely get drenched – those are the bits most likely to dry out
• Let them dry out, upside-down, a few hours before putting back in their pot so they don’t rot out from the roots
• They don’t need to be planted in any kind of soil

Some of that I vaguely knew, but I wasn’t sure and it never hurts to ask. The next curiosity was about the names/species. All three are in the well-known genus Tillandsia which is basically synonymous with “air plant.”

Tillandsia crocata

Based on what I can find, this species comes in two cultivated varieties – one that flowers yellow and one that flowers orange. The orange cultivar is apparently one of only a few that forms an orange flower. Both cultivars are apparently fragrant once they flower, which should be lovely! I read about these here and here.

Tillandsia caput-medusae

Based on images, this dudette is going to have foliage similar to the bromeliad I took from a school event back in high school. I’m excited for this; if I can get the care right, I’ll see a beautiful spiral-tower red flower come out of my medusae.

Tillandsia ‘Capitata Peach’

I didn’t see consistent naming convention for this one; based on what I’ve found I’m guessing it’s a cultivar, T. capitata ‘Peach’. According to Air Plant Supply Co., during bloom “the leaves blush beautiful shades of peach and pink with spectacular purple blossom” – exciting!

More research will come with time as I live with & care for these plants.

For now, some other weekend-in-May thoughts:

Reminder: You can’t make someone love you. You can’t make someone appreciate you. You can only love and appreciate yourself.

And bonus photo: a buckeye butterfly my best friend & I encountered:

I’m down today and I need to tell myself that I can let myself be hurt by things people have done to me. It doesn’t have to be “it wasn’t that bad” or “____ had it worse.” I deserve to acknowledge my hurt because I haven’t gotten anywhere ignoring it or pushing it down.

✿