How much do you really love pasta? Enough to have a plant that resembles your favorite noodle? Meet Tillandsia Streptophylla. It’s an air plant that has been called the “pasta plant,” and “Shirley Temple” due to the many curls its leaves create. These are very interestingly shaped little plants – when you water them more they grow wavy, like noodles, and when you water them less, they get very curly.
Native to Central America, Mexico, and the West Indies, this air plant thrives in low humidity areas due to its abundance of trichomes.
When beginning to bloom, the Tillandsia Streptophylla will blush reddish pink and will emit a gorgeous light pink inflorescence with white buds that are frosted with trichomes. These white buds will bloom purple flowers. If kept outside, these flower will attract hummingbirds all year long.
Keep Reading: 15 Ways To Attract Hummingbirds To Your Garden
These plants look great on a shelf in a bowl, or even a large open terrarium. They also do well mounted or hanging from wire. Any look you want to create, these plants will adapt to it.
How to grow Tillandsia Streptophylla
Instead of watering every day, give your plants a thorough misting every 1-3 weeks depending on your climate. Water with less frequency in humid or damp climates, and more in dry ones. Remove them from an enclosed globe or terrarium for misting, waiting for them to fully dry before displaying in enclosures again.
As there are over 650 species of Tillandsia air plants, you have a vast variety to choose from for your home decor. Air plants are easy to care for and do not root to the soil for moisture and nutrients.
You can find these plants almost anywhere online, and local garden stores might have some available as well.
The leaves of the plant are pastel green in color. Instead of the edges of the leaves curling closer to each other, the leaves curl back into tighter ringlets when they need water.
Since it grows in warm and dry regions, it requires low to moderate watering and little maintenance.
It is a species of the genus Tillandsia and belongs to the family of Bromeliaceae.
It has pink inflorescence with purple tube flowers. The flowering bracts grow straight up from the center of the plant and can attract hummingbirds.
Read next: These Rainbow Air Plants Are The Perfect Touch Of Color
