Tillandsia have a life cycle of one plant growing to maturity and then blooming.
Before, during or after blooming, your plant will usually start producing young babies.
Most plants will produce between 2 - 6 babies, which in turn will grow and mature.
Then normally within a year, bloom and produce babies themselves.
So this year you may have one plant, next year you might have 6, the next year 36 and so on.
Your plant will usually look fuller, larger and better next year than this year as it starts to grow and produce more blooms.
The bad news is that each plant will normally only flower once in its lifetime.
But, you should have blooms each year, as the babies mature, and then flower.
Flowers can last from several days to many months.
Depending on the species, most Tillandsia bloom naturally in late winter through mid-summer.
Despite their common names,
Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) and ball moss (Tillandsia recurvata)
are not mosses, but members of the Bromeliad family.
Spanish moss is easily recognizable by its pendant strands.
Ball moss is a small, tufted, gray-green plant.
Both prefer high light and will therefore thrive on weak or dead trees that have lost their leaves.
