Meet Sebastian! My first air plant! Which of course warranted some research and dang, there is a lot about air plants of which I was not aware. Please enjoy some weird facts about these weird guys.

Don’t Grow in Soil

This is about the only thing I already knew about air plants. Being sans-soil dwellers, they instead typically grow on other plants. Even cooler (and I did not previously know): they are not parasitic, meaning that they only hug onto their friend-plant foundations; they don’t consume or steal any nutrients from their host. Such considerate dudes!

Not Toxic to Pets or People

There is not a single known air plant that causes harm to other living beings, even if consumed themselves. Seriously, one of the most polite plants out there.

Do Need Water

I once thought that air plants only needed a light misting maybe once a month or two, and I’ve heard other people express prior assumptions that air plants never require watering. We have all of us been deceived. Many air plants (including my new buddy) need to be dunked in a water bath for 10-15 minutes every 7-10 days. And maybe some misting in between. Preferably with non-distilled water; yummy pond-scum is their pleasure, although tap water not so much. While they don’t have roots to absorb water, they do soak in moisture via their leaves. In retrospect, considering their native tropical habitat, it does make more sense that they drink heavy.

Slow Growth and Single Blooms

These are not highly proliferate plants. They are slow and steady growers. They also only flower once, and steadily trek towards death thereafter.