Air Plants

     Air plants are all the rage right now. They are strange little plants that don't need soil and very little water. I liken them to the sea monkeys of house plants. They need very little care and look interesting enough to be conversation starters. Although I did somehow kill my sea monkeys in college, I have high hopes for the longevity of these plants.

      During my birthday weekend Matt took me to The Palm Room in the  Ballard neighborhood (http://www.thepalmroom.com/) and picked out these three air plants. I wish I had written down the names of the three different kinds but I didn't think about it. And since they don't have roots and pots and therefore don't have those little plastic tags saying what it is I am never know. Or I guess I could google it.

      At the Palm Room we also give some pretty black and gray stones to go at the bottom of the glass orb. These are not necessary but they make it look nice. The geode is half of what we got when we went to Agate Designs in downtown Seattle (http://www.agatedesigns.com/). For about $10 we got to pick a rock from the bin and they cracked it open for us. Just a fun silly thing to do and it ended up looking nice in my new terrarium. 

    The hanging glass orb came from Camelion Design (http://www.cameliondesign.com/) just down the block from the Palm Room. After hanging the glass orb above the kitchen table all we had to do was put the rocks, geode and plants in. Super easy and very stylish. The biggest cost was the orb at about $15. Plus the plants and gravel for about $20. All total $35 for a custom air plant hanging terrarium. Of course you could do a smaller one or a couple little ones which would look cool. Since the plants don't need soil there are many possibilities for unusual places and containers for them.

     The lady at the Palm Room recommended that I spritz them with water once a week. I use our orchid spritzer, take them out of the orb and wet them, then shake off the excess and pop them back in. Not hard at all.
Please little air plants, live longer than the sea monkeys.