Re: Mistery plant

Hello Alexandre,

Definitely it is a Tillandsia species, and it might be
either T. bergeri or T. stricta, which are two of the
most commonly available and hardiest gray leafed small
clumping Tillandsias.  I don't think that
mediterranean climate humidity has anything to do with
lack of blooming, as for this plant to even survive
for 20 years, your friend has obviously had to water
it in summer to keep it alive.  This can be achieved
in place by simply spraying the plant with a hose for
a few seconds every few days during hot weather, or
dunking the plant in a bucket of water as Sean
suggests.  I grow several dozen species of hardy
Tillandsia species mounted to tree branches in my own
garden, and they are easily grown with just 30 seconds
of mist irrigation every few days in summer, and no
care at all in winter.  I have mine mounted in a
deciduous Japanese plum tree, which gives them plenty
of light in winter, which helps ensure that they will
bloom come spring.  The more tender varieties of
Tillandsia are probably best grown in evergreen trees,
which will provide a bit of frost protection.  It is
still important to locate them where they will get
good amount of sun in winter, as none of them are good
shade plants unless they are amongst the softer leaved
green Tillandsias, which often look more like Vriesea
species.

A key factore in getting the hardier spring blooming
Tillandsia species to bloom is ensuring that they get
enough winter sun.  They will tend not to bloom if too
shaded in winter.  Being that the Olive tree is
evergreen, it may be too shaded at this key season to
receive the winter sun it needs to trigger bloom. 
Both T. bergeri and T. stricta are hardy to -2/-3C at
least, and moving parts of the clump into positions
that receive at least 5 to 6 hours of winter sun
should get this to bloom for your friend.  Also it may
help to give this clump some dilute liquid fertilizer
at half strength two or three times in the warmer
months to encourage blooming.

For those who might also be interested in seeing more
about outdoor hardy bromeliads in a mediterranean
climate, I can refer you to a power point presentation
that I recently gave along with the SF Bromeliad
Society's Dan Arcos to the California Horticultural
Society a few weeks ago for their October 2007
meeting.  It is online and available for viewing at
www.sfbromeliads society.org, and covers the broad
range of bromeliads that are adaptable to outdoor
growing in our local climate, as well as showing how
they are used in landscapes in local SF Bay Area
gardens.

I also pursued this topic for a recent seminar this
October in conjunction with the Ruth Bancroft Garden,
on the topic of The Influence of South America on
California Gardens.  Several speakers and I addressed
the influence of South American design and plants on
our gardens, and toured local gardens the following
day.  The four gardens I had on the tour all featured
bromeliads heavily, as well as a broad mix of South
American subtropicals and mediterranean climate plants
in garden settings.  The seminar and tour was very
enjoyable,(about 50 people attended) and it was nice
to get 2 presentations on Lotus Land in Santa Barbara
as well as Los Posas in Mexico, and an overview on
Roberto Burle Marx and other Brazilian and Chilean
landscape architects.  I covered my take on Brazilian
influence on California gardens, as I lived in Bahia,
Brazil for a couple of years.  I showed both Brazilian
plants in habitat, and how I tend to use them in
gardens I design here.

People seemed intrigued by the possibilities of using
bromeliads in gardens, much in the way succulents are
so popular, and other star South American plants that
got alot of attention were those in bloom at the
moment, such as; Tibouchina organensis, Brugmansia
Charles Grimaldi, Delastoma roseum, Dalechampia
dioscoreifolia, Ruellia macrantha, Dahlia imperialis,
Tabebuia chrysotricha, Aechmea 'Burgundy' and Aechmea
recurvata, Justicia brandegeana, Calandrinia
grandiflora, Passiflora membranacea, Heliconia
scheideana, and Erythrina x bidwillii.  Fall is one of
my favorite seasons to have a garden tour, and can
quickly show that fall can be just as colorful in
bloom as the spring garden with the right choice of
plants.
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