Our road trip last Dec/Jan took us to LA, and  Rainforest Flora was on our short list of must see nurseries down there.  Located in Torrance, their Tillandsia oasis was cooler than we could imagine.  Yeah, we’re Air Plant junkies too.

Why is Rainforest Flora so awe-inspiring?  Since 1993, they’ve been growing every single Tillandsia they sell…aka, no plants are harvested from the wild.  Considering their volume rivals any major player in the world, it was no small task.

They have a bunch of other fun tropicals too such as this impressive Zululand cycad (Encephalartos ferox).  BTW, this rich orange cone was about the size of a football.

Also inside the nursery is a large Koi pond with plant encrusted rocks jetting out of the water.  See more of the awesomeness on our Flickr.

Here’s a cute guy that we have in our collection, I believe it’s Tillandsia funckiana. 

Here’s where Matti really freaked out…the impressive wall of Staghorn Ferns (Platycerium species).

This giant ball probably weighed in about 100-200 pounds.

Last year Paul T. Isley III, one of the original founders, came to speak at our SF Bromeliad Society.  There we got an intimate look at his 22 years of dedication to produce one of the most comprehensive books on air plants, Tillandsia II.

Before leaving, we added a couple new plants to our collection including the one in our last bloom day, Tillandsia crocata.  It’s the most fragrant Tilly that we’ve encountered.  Glad we made the pilgrimage from SF to Rainforest.  Onward to explore the rest of LA.

– Far Out Flora