If you are getting interested in amazing air plants, you are probably looking for top air plants to choose from and how to care for them. In this post, you will find a list of top air plants and their care sheets. You will learn about their appearance, blooming and propagation, as well as lighting, watering, air exchange needs.
- Tillandsia ionantha
- Tillandsia xerographica
- Tillandsia juncea
- Tillandsia caput-medusae
- Tillandsia harrisii
- Tillandsia fuchsii
- Tillandsia tectorum
- Tillandsia streptophylla
- Tillandsia aeranthos
Tillandsia ionantha care sheet
Tillandsia ionantha is one of the most popular and common air plants that you can find. They are rather small in size. You can often find various varieties or T. ionantha – such as T. ionantha rubra (red), T. ionantha fuego, scaposa (kolbii) and more.
Appearance: Small to medium. Develop reddish leaves (especially rubra and fuego) and some pink. Hardy air plants.
Lighting needs: T. ionantha prefer bright but indirect light. Reddish colors intensify with lots of light. Don’t leave under direct sunlight.
Watering needs: T. ionantha require frequent watering, but need to dry between waterings quickly. Dunking or misting is ideal, 2-3 times a week in summer, and less in winter. Make sure to provide good air exchange, as they love it.
Blooming and propagation: They bloom when reaching maturity. Blooms are purple in color. After blooming, they produce pups, that can be separated when reaching 1/2 size of the parent plant and grow independently. If left, will form a clump. Can also propagate with seeds.
Tillandsia xerographica care sheet
T. xerographica is also one of the most popular air plants that people own. Easy to find for sale, like here.
Appearance: T. xerographica are medium to large (up to 5-6″ H and 8-10″ W). They are thick, have large and silvery-green leaves (can have a pink tint with good lighting). Their beautiful curvy leaves and a big size make them very popular. However, they grow rather slowly.
Lighting needs: T. xerographica love bright but mostly indirect light. They can also tolerate direct sun for short amounts of time. With proper lighting, they can develop pinkish tint on leaves.
Watering needs: T. xerographica do not require frequent watering. Dunk the whole plant in water for 5-10 minutes once in 2-3 weeks. Mist lightly between waterings.
You must also be careful after watering – as their shape of leaves gets water trapped in the center. Shake off the plant very well after watering to avoid rot. Very curled leaves can indicate that your plant needs watering.
Blooming and propagation: They take longer to grow and bloom. Their flowers will be purple. Propagation by seeds and pups.
Tillandsia juncea care sheet
Tillandsia juncea is one most popular grassy air plants that look good on their own or in other arrangements.
Appearance: This tall and slim air plants looks like grass, as they have long and thin grassy leaves. T. juncea is mostly green and a bit silvery, but can develop yellowish tint when blooming.
Lighting needs: Bright but indirect light, with short periods of direct light are tolerable.
Watering needs: T. juncea belong to the mesic air plant group, which means that they need frequent watering. Soak your plant for 30 minutes once a week (once in 10 days in winter) and mist lightly few times a week.
Blooming and propagation: T. juncea takes a longer time to bloom – the actual bloom can take a few months to up to a year to complete its blooming cycle. Propagation by offset and seeds.
Tillandsia caput-medusae care sheet
Tillandsia caput-medusae is a quirky bulbous air plant that is also very common and popular.
Appearance: Bulbous and thick, with curly leaves. Small to medium in size. Green in color, can develop purple tint in bright light.
Lighting needs: Loves lots of bight, filtered light. Full early to afternoon sun will be optimal, with filtered light for the rest of the day.
Watering needs: T. caput-medusae only needs occasional watering, and doesn’t like soaking. You can also tell if it’s under watered, by looking at leaves.
Dry caput-medusae will have much curlier leaves than when hydrated. Mist the plant 2-3 times a week (can soak for 10 minutes and dry well in summer), in winter – mist once a week, without any soaking.
Blooming and propagation: Will bloom after reaching maturity. It is long and colorful (pink and purple). You can propagate this tillandsia from seed or pups (pups will develop after blooming).
Tillandsia harrisii care sheet
Tillandsia harrisii is also a common and quirky air plant that you can easily find for sale.
Appearance: T. harrisii is a small to medium rosette shaped air plant (around 5-8 inches/12-20 cm at maturity). Leaves are soft and green with some silver coloration. This air plat is rather tall, with elongated leaves.
Lighting needs: T. harrisii air plants love bright and indirect light. You can place it on a windowsill with lots of bright light in the morning/afternoon/evening, but limit unfiltered exposure to prevent burns during hottest hours.
Watering needs: T. harrisii belongs to a xeric group of air plants, so doesn’t need very frequent watering. In summer, soak fully once a week, and once in 2 weeks in winter (for 1 hour). Between waterings, mist lightly up to few times a week when hot. You can also choose to dunk for 15 minutes instead of soaking, 3-4 times a week.
Make sure to shake off any excess water after watering to prevent rot/fungus. Some of the signs that your T. harrisii needs watering is lack of fuzziness and drier appearance in general.
Blooming and propagation: T. harrisii will bloom when reaching maturity. Bloom is red in color. Propagation by seed or pups.
Tillandsia fuchsii care sheet
Appearance: Tillandsia fuchsii is another interesting looking air plant, is slender and somewhat grass-like/tuft-like with a bulbous base. Leaves are slender and silvery. Reaches around 3-4 inches (7.6-10 cm) tall.
Lighting needs: Tillandsia fuchsii prefers bright, but only indirect light. Don’t allow direct sunlight reach the plant, because its leaf tips can burn easily.
Watering needs: Soak the whole plant for 30 minutes twice a week in summer, and once a week during other seasons. If you don’t have much time, you can spray the plant 4-5 times a week in summer, and 2-3 times a week during colder seasons.
Make sure to shake off excess water and let the plant dry within 3-4 hours (they need proper air exchange). Misting helps prevent brown leaf tips, so make sure to mist too in summer if it’s very hot.
Blooming and propagation: Tillandsia fuchsii bloom once reaching maturity – their flowers are thin and purple in color. Propagation is with seeds or pups.
Tillandsia tectorum care sheet
Appearance: Tillandsia tectorum is a very unique looking air plant that comes from Ecuador and Peru. It’s very fluffy, and almost looks white and fuzzy. That’s due to a high number of trichomes, indicating that the plant belongs to a xeric group of drought-tolerant air plants.
Lighting needs: Because tillandsia tectorum is xeric and has many trichomes to reflect the light, it needs lots of bright light. During warm and hot seasons, provide lots of bright but indirect light. In winter, place on a windowsill, to allow it some exposure to direct light.
Watering needs: Tillandsia tectorum doesn’t prefer deep watering, and misting the plant is the best watering technique for them.
Mist the plant properly 3-4 times a week in summer, and 1-3 times a week during other seasons. Make sure your tectorum air plant dries out completely, or it will ruin the fuzzy appearance and cause rot. Keep it away from hot or dry air, because that can damage the leaves’ surface.
Blooming and propagation: Tillandsia tectorum blooms beautifully – its flower is pink with purple bracts. Flowers can vary in size, but most are tall.
Tillandsia streptophylla care sheet
Appearance: Tillandsia streptophylla is a bulbous air plant with curly/wavy and soft leaves. Medium-large sized air plant, reaching around 6-8 inches (15-20 cm) tall.
Lighting needs: Tillandsia streptophylla also belongs to a xeric group of air plants, which means that it is drought-resistant and doesn’t need much watering. It loves lots of bright but indirect light (however can tolerate up to couple hours of direct light a day).
Watering needs: Tillandsia streptophylla doesn’t need much watering. Mist the plant 3-4 times a week in summer, and 1-2 times in spring/fall/winter.
A great thing about them is that curlier the leaves, drier the plant. You can use this sign to determine if your plant is dry or hydrated. When hydrated, leaves become more straight or wavy.
Blooming and propagation: Tillandsia streptophylla has very beautiful, large and longer lasting blooms (that can reach around 10 inches/25cm long). It’s purple and pink in coloration.
Tillandsia aeranthos care sheet
Appearance: Tillandsia aeranthos is a cone shaped air plant, with straight and rigid green-silvery leaves.
Lighting needs: This air plant needs bright filtered light, but avoid direct sun. In winter, place in a spot with direct sun. Tillandsia aeranthos is a hardy air plant, and can tolerate even below freezing temperatures. That would be around 23 F (-5 Celsius), as well as higher temperatures into up to high 80s, mid 90s F (mid 30s C).
Watering needs: There is no need to soak Tillandsia aeranthos – instead, dunk for 10 minutes 1-2 times a week in summer, and once a week in winter. Make sure to dry the plant properly, it doesn’t like being wet. You can choose misting instead in winter.
Blooming and propagation: Blooming readily – flowers are pink and blue in color. Propagation with seed and pups.
Thank you for reading this post about top air plants and their care. If you would like to learn more about air plants, please see this resource page. You can also find a list of top air plants for beginners or office spaces here.