First Epiphyte Day

Welcome to the first ever "Epiphyte Day"!  The first of every month is your chance to join the 'Phyte Club (thanks Mr. Subjunctive) and blog about all your favorite plants that just happen to call the treetops their home.  The following posts are brought to us by the blogging early birds that completed their posts in advance.  If you would like to add your own post, share a link in the comments and I'll be sure to add it to the rest!
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I've listed the posts by their subject matter for easy browsing.

Epiphyte Houseplants by Plants Are The Strangest People - This is a great post to read before you do your own article for Epiphyte Day!  This is a great primer on epiphytes to grow at home, and from a true expert on houseplants to boot!  Mr. Subjunctive also provides a detailed definition on what an epiphyte actually is to begin with...

Moth Orchids by Get Busy Gardening - Have you ever purchased what was supposed to be an easy to grow phalaenopsis orchid from the grocery store, only to have it suffer in your care? Amy shares some tips that she'll be following in order to keep hers healthy and blooming!

Neoregelia by Tropical Texana - David shares his favorite epiphyte, (and also one in my collection) neoregelia 'red bands'! Actually, the star of this blog post isn't the neoregelia 'red bands', but the terrific poem! You'll just have to read it for yourself.

Lichens by The Citrus Guy - These are the ultimate epiphytes, and are (don't quote me on this) probably the most widespread. Darren shares a lot of really interesting facts about these symbiotic organisms, and I appreciate them even more now!

Cattleyas by Cats and Catts - Cattleya orchids were originally even more popular than the phalaenopsis that fill today's big box stores, and its about time that they made a comeback! They're colorful, often fragrant, and pretty darned carefree too.

Birds Nest Fern by Africanaussie - I was thrilled to see the huge bird's nest fern in AfricanAussie's post, but the tree trunk absolutely decked out in other ferns like elkhorns was too much.  If you want to see epiphytes in their natural environment, you won't be disappointed.

Ant Plant by The Kat's Garden -  Kat shares one of the most unusual epiphytes, an "ant plant" from the milkweed family!  The name "Ant Plant" is used to describe a genus spanning group of plants that houses ants in its leaves or stems to ward off predators in a symbiotic relationship!


Spanish Moss by A Succulent Life - Here's a classic epiphyte that often gets taken for granted, Spanish moss!  I thought I knew a lot about tillandsia usneoides, but Julie knocked my socks off with her barrage of awesome facts, such as "The plant is used as fodder for livestock". Who knew?

Tillandsias by Blog for a Not So Angry Redhead - NotSoAngryRedhead received the Christmas present of a lifetime; a whole shipment of different tillandsia species!  Tillandsias are also known as 'air plants' for their ability to grow in tree branches, telephone wires, chain link fences, or tacky fridge magnets, and the aforementioned 'Spanish moss' is also a tillandsia. 

Tremendous thanks to those who joined in the festivities, because you've made this thing HUGE with your tweets, shares and blog posts.  You're all the best!  I will be tallying up all the entries in the contest by January 7th and will share the randomly picked winner, who will receive a prize package crammed full of random epiphytes. Oh, what the hell. I'm picking TWO winners because you're all just that awesome.  Stay tuned!  PS. Get it? Phyte Club? Anyone?