Ant Plant

When I was at the Orchid Show back in April I was intrigued by this little hanging plant. It has a climbing sort of habit to it, the tiniest little pink flowers and air bladders. It's called an Ant plant and the care is very similar to the air plants - misting or dunking in water once a week.

It's in a cute little shell with a hole drilled in the bottom so it doesn't retain any water. The leaves seem very soft and delicate for only needing a wee bit of water. That worries me but it's living in my kitchen window and I haven't killed it in the first month so that's good.

Air plant: Aeroanthos bergeri

Once again this year, I took my Mom to the Orchid Show put on by the Sacramento Orchid Society. I love and hate this event. Love it because they have so many amazing plants. Hate it because I really don't need any more to come home with me.

When I left the house, I promised Ben I would only bring home one orchid. I held true to my word! Only one orchid...and four airplants...and one ant plant. But still, that totally counts, right?

One orchid seller had a bunch of air plants and within two hours, on the first day of the show, she was almost sold out. Air plants are in the Bromeliad family, Tillandsia genus. They are epiphytic (growing on other plants) and survive on water and nutrients in the air. And they are just cool!

The Aeroanthos bergeri that I picked up was formed into a ball so it is hanging. I put it into my giant ficus tree...see, because it's epiphytic. Get it? It also fills in the last bare spot on the rescued ficus.

So far, I've just been dunking it in a bowl of water once a week and it seems very happy. It already had blooms starting when I got it, so I can't take credit for that. But since it's been home, the tiny little purple blooms have started popping out. What an awesome little plant!