Bromeliads at the Pacific Orchid Expo.

Today, Sunday March 6, ‘11 is the last day of the San Francisco Pacific Orchid Exhibition held at the airy Fort Mason Wharf building.

Yesterday I volunteered to help the San Francisco Bromeliad Club - LINK _ http://www.sfbromeliad.org/ with their sales booth and was so happy to have had the experience to work side by side with my club members and see some of the extraordinary orchids and orchid garden vignettes.

The exhibit that most caught my eye was designed by Davis Dalbok of Living Green , a luxuriously beautiful showroom in the design district of the city that ‘brings you an eclectic selection of artefacts, specimen tropical foliage and objects that reflect the wonder and simple beauty of Nature’.

From academy

Trailing right behind Davis’s exhibit was the profoundly prolific explosion of fantastic foliaged bromeliads exhibited by the Bromeliad Club designed by member Peter Wan.

From academy

Many of the bromeliad species in this exhibit can live comfortably outdoor in the San Francisco Bay area. Some may have to retreat to a green house or under an overhead eave during one of our occasional winter cold snaps, but for the most part many bromeliads do well growing outdoor in an area with bright warm light ( not blazing hot sun )

From Pina Colada

From Pina Colada

From Pina Colada

From Pina Colada

And the Bromeliad Society booth has “THE IT” new hot plant of the year : Tillandsias, otherwise wise known as ‘air plants’.
Tillandsias are all the range this year. It started with interior decorators putting Tillandsias in a glass vase evoking the idea of a terrarium.
Now you see Tillandsias hanging in small glass globes in boutique nurseries across the US priced in the 25 to 40 dollar range.
The secret is, most Tillandsias are actually a fairly inexpensive plant. We had blooming Tilladsias priced in the 5 to 10.00 range.

From Pina Colada

One can pick up a glass orb in Chinatown for $ 2.00 or find a glass vase at a second hand store or Pier One imports in the 10.00 range.
For less than $ 15.00 you can have a beautiful terrarium of your own without spending a lot of money.
Place a small bit of moss or a few small rocks in with your Tillandsia glass vase and you’ll be sporting the same designs that grace the pages of Garden Design, Architectural Digest and Elle Decor for a fraction of the price but to big design effect.