Air Plant Holders – Containers to Display Your Tillandsia Collection

These air plant holders are cute. compact and perfect to display your tillandsia collection.

Air plants are not only fun to grow, they are also fun to display.  So many household items can be fashioned into containers for these sweet little plants that don’t need soil to grow.  

Succulents like tillandsia are drought smart plants that are super easy to grow and make fantastic houseplants.  Be sure to check out my tips for how to care for succulents.

These delightful little plants are very easy care. Their watering needs are minimal but these tips for growing air plants will help you get the most out of them.

Have you tried growing air plants? These succulent plants from the epiphyte family are perfect for those who have a “brown thumb.”

Other epiphytes are the family of holiday cactus plants: Thanksgiving cactus, Christmas cactus and Easter cactus.

The plants are easy to grow and actually thrive on a bit of neglect. Most air plants are quite small and have very little in the way of root systems.

In nature they attach themselves to host plants and grow easily.  In the home, we like to display them in unusual ways.

Air Plant Holders – How to Display Tillandsia

Air plants can be grown in normal pots, but their small size and little need for moisture also make them candidate for all sorts of other planter ideas.

Why not try one of these interesting air plant holders for something a bit different.

A common household fish bowl make the perfect home for this larger air plant. Add some white gravel and a collection of sea shells for a unique and beachy scene.

One of the readers of my blog sent me a photo showing a really interesting display for her air plants.

These neat planters are made from blocks of wood with a curved wire at the top where the air plants sit. So creative. Thanks for sharing Lilibeth! I just love the way these look!

Air plants love to sit on trees in nature. To mimic this look, wrap some sphagnum moss around a piece of wood and tie the plant to it.  It will look natural and woodsy when suspended this way.

Air plants are well suited to any terrarium styled display. Terrariums hold in the moisture and give the plant pretty much the perfect environment.  

This cute tear drop shaped glass holder is wrapped in copper wire and adorned with a heart. It makes the tiny tillandisia look right at home sitting on a bed of green moss.

A note on copper and air plants:

Copper pipes and wires can be toxic to air plants, particularly when the copper area is exposed to moisture on a repeated basis, which is necessary if you water in the container.

If you want to use a container for air plants that has copper in it, be sure to seal it thoroughly with a clear coating such as Flex Clear.

Alternatively, you can remove the air plant from the container when you water it so the copper won’t get exposed to the moisture.

This easy DIY project used an old wooden drawer with compartments and turned it into a stunning succulent container for an air plant and many other succulents.  

Since Air plants grow on host trees in nature, it makes a lot of sense to use log holders to display them.  This pretty log shape displays two plants, one on each end for a perfectly symmetrical holder.

Because of their small size, air plants are idea candidates for shallow bowl planting. This pretty air plant bowl container uses gravel, a piece of drift wood and has three different air plants for a minimalist looking planter.

Driftwood is the ideal medium for making a planter. The surf polishes it naturally and crevices form that can be used to plant tillandsia in.

There are dozens of ways to use logs in planters. See more ideas for log planters here.

My last visit to the local farmer’s market was spent wandering around an air plant vendor’s stall that had so many pretty containers. This bird cage caught my attention and I love the way it looks.

It had a huge piece of drift wood to hold the tillandsia plants and was about 5 feet tall!

A stained wooden plaque and piece of copper tubing makes a rustic holder for this shield style air plant holder.  It’s easy to make and displays the plant nicely. See the shield planter tutorial at Walnut Hollow Crafts.

A round sphere made of flat copper wire is the perfect home for this air plant. The planter is easy to mist and looks great with the colorful moss under the collection of air plants.

My old Mr. Coffee carafe does double duty in this fun coffee pot terrarium.  I combined my air plant with other succulent plants for a pretty display that hardly ever needs watering.

See the coffee pot terrarium tutorial here.

A glass bottle with a front circle opening is wrapped in jute and decorated with a single wooden bead. Add some colorful moss in several shades and place the spiky air plant in the center for a fun rustic effect.

This is such a cute planter.   A light bulb has a side cut out of it to allow for the air plant to get added with some moss.

I love how the copper wire matches the color of the light bulb top. Cut, unusual and just the perfect size!

This marbled loop of clay is a fun DIY project that makes a great air plant holder.  It is made from polymer clay, which has been colored and then baked.

See how to make this hanging air plant holder at Delineate Your Dwelling.

This adorable planter is made from a ceramic figure with an area on the top to sit the plant.  See more cute air plant holders at House of Hawthornes.

These old metal pipe fittings do double duty as air plant holders.  They are rustic and so unusual.  Photo credit BookFinch on Flickr.

Last by not least is this amazing planter that I recently found at Lowe’s.  It is an elongated blown glass container with a front cut out and double copper wire wrapping.

The copper flower accents the fun colors of the moss and displays the air plant beautifully.

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Air plants don't need soil to grow, so they can be grown in all sorts of interesting planters. Head to The Gardening Cook for lots of creative ideas for displaying your air plants. Share on X

What do you use to display your air plants? I’d love to see some photos in your comments below!

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