Why your air plant is dying
Air plants make great houseplants - if you know how to care for them.
Meet the silent divas of the plant world - air plants! With their striking silver flair, they're the darlings of high-end plant shops and interior designers. Sold to us as easy, dirt and mess free plants, people buy these botanical beauties every day, bringing them home only to have them die a quick and silent death.
Reader's Digest - Air plants need friends. Put your air plants in pots with other plants!
Let's be real, despite what designers tell us, keeping these guys alive is as tough as nailing Jell-O to a tree! Believe me, I've tried and failed many times (the air plants, not the Jell-O). I had completely given up on air plants, going as far as removing them from our shop and website as I felt it unfair to sell my clients a plant that even I could not keep happy.
Then one day I was at my favorite grower’s greenhouse and he had a new crop of large, curly air plants available. I broke down; I simply had to take one home with me and hope THIS one stayed alive.
Look to Nature: Air plants don't live alone.
But then, I looked to nature and had an epiphany! When I researched how air plants grow in nature I discovered that they aren't meant to live alone in shiny glass bubbles or atop pristine white shelves. They're epiphytes, which means they grow on trees.
So, I decided to give them a natural home and tucked them among my other plants. And by this I mean I just shoved them under a monstera and a spider plant.
And voila! They started thriving!
So go ahead and add an air plant (or two or three) to your collection and if you're struggling to keep air plants you already own alive, give them some friends ! Simply position them atop the soil, or rocks, in pots with other plants, the more the merrier. Water normally. If you really want to spoil your plants you can used distilled water or water that has sat out for 24 hours to allow chemicals to evaporate - I only do this for my draconea.
Air plants are social creatures - Just like us!
With a little bit of creativity and attention to their natural habitat, air plants can bring a touch of greenery to any space. So, go ahead and add them to your collection -
your green thumb might just surprise you!