Tillandsia leonamiana
Tillandsia leonamiana is a rarely cultivated species from Brazil. It was named in honor of the Brazilian botanist Leandro de Almeida Leal (nicknamed Leona) and belongs to the subgenus Anoplophytum. Due to its compact form and attractive flower, it is becoming increasingly popular among collectors.
Features: Tillandsia leonamiana forms small to medium-sized rosettes with narrow, slightly curved leaves that appear gray-green to silvery. The leaf surface is finely scaly. During the flowering period, it develops a strong, upright inflorescence with bright red to pink bracts, from which violet tubular flowers emerge. It usually reliably offsets after flowering.
Care Instructions:
Light: Bright to sunny – best with some direct sunlight in the morning or evening.
Water: Spray 2–3 times a week or occasionally dip briefly. Then let it dry completely.
Humidity: Medium to high (50–70%) – good air circulation is required.
Fertilizer: In spring and summer, 1–2 times per month with our special tillandsia or orchid fertilizer in diluted form.
Temperature: 18–30 °C, relatively robust – can be kept frost-free for a short time down to about 5 °C.
Note: An attractive, less common species for enthusiasts and collectors. Ideal for smaller containers, airy grids, or cork pieces in bright living spaces or greenhouses.
Our greenhouses are equipped with modern energy screens and double glazing to efficiently save on heating costs. Additionally, we collect rainwater over the entire roof area of 9,000 square meters and use only this water to irrigate all our crops. We collect the rainwater in underground tanks with a total volume of 600,000 liters.
Since 2007, we have been heating our entire operation with a fully automated 850 kW wood chip heating system and a 100,000-liter buffer storage tank. Environmentally friendly and CO2-neutral. Only to support during very cold winter days and nights is a conventional oil heating system available.
Since 2014, the heating has been supported by a solar thermal system with an annual yield of about 20 megawatt-hours.
In 2020, we installed a photovoltaic system with 30 kW peak and have been producing more green electricity per year than our entire operation requires.
Since 2021, we use exclusively pots for our self-produced plants that are not only 100% recyclable but are also entirely made from recycled pots. To this end, we collect all used pots that arise in our operation and have them picked up in big bags by our pot supplier Göttinger. There, the pots are cleaned and processed in a water-free recycling facility into new pots that come back to us.
