The rare flowers of my garden: Tillandsia aeranthos (Clavel del Aire).

When one associates plants and flowers in a garden, he immediately associates them with the soil, whether they are grown directly on it or in pots.

Today I am going to talk about a very particular case. The plant is called in my country Clavel del Aire, it hangs so that it remains suspended in the air without any contact with the ground and this year, as you can see in the photo, it has begun to bloom.

Obviously it does not need watering or any care. It feeds and feeds only on the air. Incredible true?

To say it is the first time that I see their flowers, and several not only one.

The funny thing is that we did an experiment with my wife: we put a plant (or a portion of it because it reproduces without any problem if we cut a part of it and directly hang it anywhere) in a tiny metal pot without soil.

We hung the other plant directly under a semi-shade to protect ourselves from the strong summer sun on the patio.

And as you can see the result is the same: they have flourished in the same way. One has more flowers than the other simply because it is bigger.

This led me to do some research on sites like Wikipedia and the like and I discovered that it is actually known all over the world and its scientific name is Tillandsia aeranthos, and it has a wide range of colors that go from red to bluish (as is the one that I have at home) going through endless shades.

The mystery of its growth and reproduction without being in contact with the ground is based on the strange property it has of collecting its nutrients in the dust, in the leaves or parts that they fall off and in other organic matter that insects carry.

I think this has been the reason why this year they have flourished so much. They are relatively close to a rosemary plant that bloomed a lot this year and has been the most visited by bees and other insects in their arduous task of pollination.

Surely these same insects, passing by, have left some organic matter that has served not only to nourish, but also to rejuvenate the plant, making it bloom and, in this case, without being directly visited by insects with a clearer objective: to collect its pollen.

It easily reproduces through shoots that grow on its sides and that can be left to increase the dimensions of the carnation in the air or can be removed to form a new plant with the same characteristics as the mother plant.

It will be enough to hang them in the garden and sooner or later they will begin to reproduce and generate flowers.

I have read some criticism regarding this plant when it grows parasitically, that is, around other plants, developing around trunks and branches.

I think it is a very slow-growing plant and for this to happen it must either be a very large plant or we have to leave it for many years around that plant so that it absorbs its nutrients and causes real damage.

In any case, the safest thing is to simply hang it outside in an ornamental way (it does not suffer from the cold and for this reason we can leave it outdoors all year round) and let it develop independently without depending on any other plant, nor as support not as a nutrient, since it does not need either to survive and develop in harmony and beauty.