Monday, June 9, 2025

A bromeliad table, that's a thing, right?

Even if you've never built one you've probably heard of fern tables—maybe you've even seen them here on my blog, since I've built two. I've long wanted to do a table-planting using sun loving plants, but haven't had the right plants on hand, the right "table" or even the right location. But switch that thinking slightly to bromeliads and, well, that's a different story...

I started accumulating small plants in January, during our trip to San Diego. In fact of the five plants I brought home, four of them were bromeliads, or at least in the family; Aechmea Bert (orlandiana x fosteriana), Racinaea crispa, Deuterocohnia brevifolia, and Hechtia tillandsioides. I was well on my way! Here's the stash I had to work with when I started the table project...

So, the table...we were given a large, heavy, and ridiculously expensive cutting board from Andrew's (then) employer when he hit his 20th anniversary last summer. It was so big there was simply no way to use it in our modest 1948 kitchen. Since Andrew didn't care what I did with it I started scheming, and it became the table top for the planting. The base (which you'll see below) is a rectangular metal planter I scored at a clearance sale for $5. 

When putting together a fern table you mound the soil right on the table surface and plant into it. That's not really something I needed, or wanted, to do with the bromeliads, so I starting playing around with pieces of metal and wood that I could plant into and stage them on the table top. That's what's going on here...

And here's what I ended up with—spoiler alert—I'm not 100% sure I like it. Or maybe I should say, I think it can be better, that it's not done. I'm just not sure what that means yet.

What I am happy with is this companion planter. It's a Deuterocohnia lorentziana that had never looked good in it's former container. The brown ceramic pot is super heavy so dropped a smaller pot into it (no desire to haul the heavy pot with the seasons) and then asked Andrew to cut a piece of expanded metal to act as a shelf over the open section. I'm on the hunt for the right tillandsia to place there, rather than (or in addition to) the twisty metal piece

Back to the table...

Up front is the Deuterocohnia brevifolia I bought in San Diego. It kind of naturally fell into pieces so I planted them separately.  

I loved this metal piece and can't wait for the deuterocohnia to fill it. Until then I shoved a little moss around the plant.

I planted the Racinaea crispa. moss and other deuterocohnia pieces a piece of driftwood with a shallow planting groove.

Gerhard gave me the Bromelia pinguin ‘Qué será’ (R) and the cryptanthus (L) is an offset from a NoID plant I purchased a while back.

I love the colors of the Bromelia pinguin...

In the center (in the tube with a flare at the top) is an Aechmea recurvata v. benrathii offset from one of my plants.

In the tube on the far right is the Hechtia tillandsioides I bought at Solana Succulents.

Can you believe how thick that chunk of wood is?  It was a happy coincidence that it fit the top of the metal container so perfectly, and the stain color is a match with our outdoor dining table, chairs, and bench.

Side view... Aechmea Bert on the far right.

In the small rusty ring is Acanthostachys pitcairnioides, with a lot of moss helping it stay in place.

Maybe the answer to the question of what's missing is more moss? 

We've had a warm days (86 is I think the top temp thus far), interspersed with cloudy and sometimes misty/drizzly days. The day I chose to take these photos was one of the misty days so everything was looking very green and lush.

Did you spot the cactus bloom in the background? It's a Echinopsis oxygona from Cistus Nursery.


So there you have it, my bromeliad table. The improved version is percolating...

P.S. I was away over the weekend and Tiffany watered a bit (we hit 97 yesterday!) and sent me this photo. The right lighting makes everything better!

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All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Friday, June 6, 2025

My visit to Bird Rock Topicals (visiting paradise and not being able to bring it home)

This is my last post from our January trip to the San Diego area, I'm wrapping it all up in grand style with a visit to Bird Rock Tropicals... 

Walking up I wasn't sure what to expect. I've ordered from BRT for years, and I have a friend who visited once a few years back and shared photos. Seeing it in person though exceeded all of my expectations. I should note they're not open for walk-in visits, you need to make an appointment, which is easy to do on their website.

So many tillandsia! And that's just a small part of them...

These specimens look like they're on their way somewhere, and check out that curtain of Tillandsia usneoides!

Oh the colorful bromeliads...

Hohenbergia leopoldo-horstii (dark clone)

Hohenbergia leopoldo-horstii F2 hybrid


Aechmea recurvata




Nidularium atalaiaense


Edmundoa lindenii (Canistrum lindenii)




Billbergia 'Cold Fusion'

Aechmea triangularis

I wasn't as dedicated to tracking tillandisa names (not that I was 100% with the bromeliads), just appreciating their forms and in some cases the blooms.




There's the curtain wall of Tillandsia usneoides again, from the other side this time.


Those are some seriously dangerous teeth!

This palm with its trunk covered in tillandsia and bromeliads stood just outside the sales area. 

Thankfully I was invited to walk past it and into the production area, normally off limits to visitors.

Even more tillandsia!

This one gave the illusion of long "snakes" of Deuterocohnia lorentziana.


Vriesea brassicoides purple





This is what I most wanted to take home with me, *le sigh* (a mix of Quesnelia marmorata 'Tim Plowman' and Quesnelia 'Rafael Oliveira')...


Hohenbergia pennae

Yep, I'll take all of those!


Guess what, there were pyrrosia!


I was also allowed to walk around BRT owner Pam Koide Hyatt's stunning home landscaping, she lives behind the nursery.





What a visit! I went in knowing the only thing I'd be bringing home with me were memories and photos. Well, that's not quite true. I did get a small Racinaea crispa (red clone) and an Aechmea Bert (orlandiana x fosteriana)—shown in this post. Maybe someday I'll return with a larger budget and a car to fill!

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All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.