My husband came in from the backyard the other day and said "You're not going to believe this but there's a flower on the Spanish moss." I didn't believe it so he took a picture and he was right. Sure enough there were some browned flowers hanging on each moss in the tree. Well you know I had to research it and found out that Spanish moss is not moss at all. It's actually a member of the bromeliad family and is a native tillandsia tectorum.

Tillandsia usneoides is more widely recognized as Spanish moss. It hangs down from trees in lengths up to 15 feet and is greenish gray in color. There are no roots and thrives in shade and humid conditions. The variety living in our trees is more compact. While it's leaves are also quite thin, this plant forms tufts. Although winds easily blow them out of the trees, my husband places the plants back in the trees and they reattach. I've said it before and I'll say it again - you learn something new every day. I'm going to keep a little closer eye on these bromeliads. If they bloom again, I'll be sure to snap a picture before the flowers brown so you can see them. Happy Florida Gardening.

Once again I need to credit Andrew Stenning for his captivating photographs. As I mentioned not too long ago on The Garden's Gift, I've been in the process of changing the mastheads on all my pages. I started with the home page and have now revised this site.

Andrew wrote not too long ago to tell me about his blog. A garden designer in the UK as well as a natural photographer, his work is stunning. Not only did I add a link to his site, I was so taken by his photos that I asked if I could use one or two to redesign my headers. Andrew responded right away with his consent. And the rest is history. We'll be changing the remaining pages over the next few weeks so don't be surprised as more gorgeous photos find their way on my blog. My sincere thanks go to Andrew for his contributions and I highly encourage you to visit his site. You'll be glad you did. Happy Florida Gardening.