I have no idea what I'm doing again (Alternate Title: New Plant! Tillandsia bulbosa)

There's a certain Farmer's Market Store that has a really nice garden center, but you have to cross a bridge ($1.50 to get back over, not bad, but something to consider) and it's about 35 minutes from me. Occasionally I have to go that way anyway, like today, so I stopped in on my way home.

I haven't really considered Tillansia until just now. Sure they are pretty, but I guess being used to seeing them glued to fridge magnets and other tacky decorations over the years has turned me off to them. This is unfortunate because it's really not the fault of Tillandsia, so I shouldn't take my distaste out on them.

Today they had tons of little plastic bags with *GASP* CORRECTLY LABELED SPECIES! Just kill me now, you've spotted my weakness. They were all really nice too, especially xerographica and streptophylla. But this little guy was the weirdest looking one I've ever seen so it had to be mine.

Whole plant

Close up of the nice purple lining the leaves have. Wish I could find better lighting, wasn't working out today.

So now I have a Tillandsia bulbosa. I'm considering hanging it, or I'll find a tasteful mount for it. No magnets, ceramic lizards, or glass globes with sand, (That's cool if that's your thing, but it's not my taste, so don't get offended here.) I also refuse to glue it to anything. I know this is fine for the plant, but I can't do it, so no.

If it does well I'll probably end up with a few more. Care seems pretty easy, if anything it won't get watered as often as it should, but it should be able to handle that sort of neglect.

It seems to me like Tillandsia falls in and out of favor with the plant crowd. I used to see them everywhere when I was a kid, then haven't seen them in years, now they are everywhere again, (lately unlabeled and in some sort of home decoration piece where it's almost certain to not get enough light.) It's interesting how certain types of plants are "cool" for a while and sold everywhere, then you can't find them at all. How do these trends work and who pushes them? Seasonal trends are one thing, but "tropical" plants seem to be popular, or not, for years at a time.