A bromeliad table, that's a thing, right?

Even if you've never built one you've probably heard of fern tables—maybe you've even seen them here on my blog, since I've built two. I've long wanted to do a table-planting using sun loving plants, but haven't had the right plants on hand, the right "table" or even the right location. But switch that thinking slightly to bromeliads and, well, that's a different story...

I started accumulating small plants in January, during our trip to San Diego. In fact of the five plants I brought home, four of them were bromeliads, or at least in the family; Aechmea Bert (orlandiana x fosteriana), Racinaea crispa, Deuterocohnia brevifolia, and Hechtia tillandsioides. I was well on my way! Here's the stash I had to work with when I started the table project...

So, the table...we were given a large, heavy, and ridiculously expensive cutting board from Andrew's (then) employer when he hit his 20th anniversary last summer. It was so big there was simply no way to use it in our modest 1948 kitchen. Since Andrew didn't care what I did with it I started scheming, and it became the table top for the planting. The base (which you'll see below) is a rectangular metal planter I scored at a clearance sale for $5. 

When putting together a fern table you mound the soil right on the table surface and plant into it. That's not really something I needed, or wanted, to do with the bromeliads, so I starting playing around with pieces of metal and wood that I could plant into and stage them on the table top. That's what's going on here...

And here's what I ended up with—spoiler alert—I'm not 100% sure I like it. Or maybe I should say, I think it can be better, that it's not done. I'm just not sure what that means yet.

What I am happy with is this companion planter. It's a Deuterocohnia lorentziana that had never looked good in it's former container. The brown ceramic pot is super heavy so dropped a smaller pot into it (no desire to haul the heavy pot with the seasons) and then asked Andrew to cut a piece of expanded metal to act as a shelf over the open section. I'm on the hunt for the right tillandsia to place there, rather than (or in addition to) the twisty metal piece

Back to the table...

Up front is the Deuterocohnia brevifolia I bought in San Diego. It kind of naturally fell into pieces so I planted them separately.  

I loved this metal piece and can't wait for the deuterocohnia to fill it. Until then I shoved a little moss around the plant.

I planted the Racinaea crispa. moss and other deuterocohnia pieces a piece of driftwood with a shallow planting groove.

Gerhard gave me the Bromelia pinguin ‘Qué será’ (R) and the cryptanthus (L) is an offset from a NoID plant I purchased a while back.

I love the colors of the Bromelia pinguin...

In the center (in the tube with a flare at the top) is an Aechmea recurvata v. benrathii offset from one of my plants.

In the tube on the far right is the Hechtia tillandsioides I bought at Solana Succulents.

Can you believe how thick that chunk of wood is?  It was a happy coincidence that it fit the top of the metal container so perfectly, and the stain color is a match with our outdoor dining table, chairs, and bench.

Side view... Aechmea Bert on the far right.

In the small rusty ring is Acanthostachys pitcairnioides, with a lot of moss helping it stay in place.

Maybe the answer to the question of what's missing is more moss? 

We've had a warm days (86 is I think the top temp thus far), interspersed with cloudy and sometimes misty/drizzly days. The day I chose to take these photos was one of the misty days so everything was looking very green and lush.

Did you spot the cactus bloom in the background? It's a Echinopsis oxygona from Cistus Nursery.

So there you have it, my bromeliad table. The improved version is percolating...

P.S. I was away over the weekend and Tiffany watered a bit (we hit 97 yesterday!) and sent me this photo. The right lighting makes everything better!

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