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Species library › Tillandsia › Tillandsia gardneri
Other Well documented

Tillandsia gardneri

A silvery-grey, soft-leaved air plant with a dense coat of trichomes and a pink inflorescence, native from Trinidad, Venezuela and Colombia to eastern Brazil as far south as Rio Grande do Sul. It is widely grown and is the parent of cultivars such as 'Feather Duster' and 'Quicksilver'. The heavy scale cover marks it as an atmospheric, bright-light species that dries out between rains.

Tillandsia gardneri
Photo: Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Ordinary room humidityBand in Plantistry
Light Bright, filtered lightDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
No rest periodGrows on trees (epiphyte)

Where it grows wild

An epiphyte on trees and shrubs over a wide geographic and climatic range, including the Brazilian Atlantic Forest region, where it is recorded in the regional bromeliad checklist. Its dense silver trichomes point to bright, fairly exposed perches, such as outer branches or more open forest and scrub, rather than deep shade. This inference is not a measured value.

Recorded from lowlands to montane zones across its range. The sources consulted gave no exact elevation limits.

Trinidad-TobagoVenezuelaColombiaBrazil NortheastBrazil SoutheastBrazil South

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its CC BY-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.