Aeranthos in flower..???

Funny, isn't it, MF ... your sills are on the inside, like our 400 year old house in Bucks but here they're on the outside ... obviously to oblivate the sun and consequently heat!

Hey, BM, you could do well with these in your shady areas perhaps?

 

Cracking plant to have in flower MF, well done. However, it isn't Tillandsia aeranthos, which develops tight clumps of waxy, grey-leaved rosettes, pink-bracted spikes and wide open, bright blue flowers. Yours is a form of Tillandsia ionantha, which to my mind is rather more attractive.

These 'air plants' are fascinating little things and I've been delighted to find that several are proving to be reasonably hardy outside here. I've got a small tuft of T. ionantha, which hasn't flowered yet, but seems happy glued to the branches of an evergreen Cornus. It gets lightly hosed when I remember and very infrequently sprayed with half strength liquid feed. Tillandsia bergeri has been a great success, developing from a single rosette a few years ago, into a decent cluster, which produced quite a few flowers spikes in June. I have it tied to a Yucca trunk (Y. elephantipes) just below the crown, which provides overhead protection on clear winter nights.



Another - Tillandsia juncea seems happier tightly attached to thinner twiggy branches in one of the trees, where it gets blown about and buffeted by storms and gales.



I used to have 'Spanish Moss' (Tillandsia usneoides) which did very well and grew vigorously, but a couple of years ago, the birds realised what excellent nesting material it made :|

 

What an unusual flower MF - congratulations, you must be purring.