Tropical treat

At last, Brazil has come to my bathroom. My fantasy was a bathroom in a tropical plantation.

Floors are wood, including in the shower. There are wooden slatted blinds. Walls are covered with banana plants – printed on the wallpaper. This particular wallpaper is the original 1942 design for the Fountain Coffee Shop at the Beverly Hills Hotel. It is still there – a signature of that famous hotel. A number of celebrities, seeing it there, have used this striking wallpaper in their own stylish houses. Me too.

I went to the Dunedin Botanic Garden autumn plant sale run as a fundraiser by the Friends of the Dunedin Botanic Garden. This sale was a great success; efficiently organised with so many plants that are otherwise hard to find. I bought some Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) and a flowering begonia.

I had seen both of these plants growing naturally in Brazil, in places where it was particularly humid.

At the Iguazu Falls, trees leaning over the water were fully draped in veils of Spanish moss.

I saw the begonia growing epiphytically on branches with shiny leafed cactus, orchids, bromeliads – trees heavily laden with their own tropical gardens.

These various plants live well on collected humus formed from bark and falling leaves.

Spanish moss has no roots and lives on the dust and nutrients the stems can capture from the air.

I have seen them thriving on telegraph wires – proof indeed that they do not get their sustenance from soil or host.

Of course it is not a moss at all but is a bromeliad, related to the pineapple.

It is native to the Americas, from the warm, humid southern areas of the US, south through Mexico and all the way to northern Argentina. It can grow to 6m in length.

As a bromeliad, it is a flowering plant but the flowers are insignificant.

The begonia prefers bright light but not direct sun.

It does like a peaty (or humus laden) potting mix in the light but should not have direct sunlight except in winter. Shoots can be pinched back during the growing season to maintain a bushy plant.

The begonia is growing in a pot featuring a colourful parrot – another feature of Brazil. Don’t eat your begonia – as if you would! – because it is, in fact, mildly poisonous.

Having seen these plants growing in the wild, I thought they would be quite happy in the humidity of my bathroom. I hung the Spanish moss in the middle of the bathroom by poking it through the fretted frame of the pendant lamp shade; an easy job.

In the middle of the night, in the dark, I stagger half asleep to the room and get a hell of a fright when I am slapped in the face by the clammy Spanish moss. My plant in the bathroom has grown substantially longer. What is it feeding on, I wonder. Is it me?

I spray the tillandsia and the begonia with chlorine-free water collected from a dehumidifier, or better still rainwater which is more likely to contain some nutrients for them.

If you ever do get the opportunity to visit the Iguazu Falls – we will be able to travel again one day – don’t just explore the several kilometres of spectacular waterfalls, the biggest in the world; allow time to botanise the riches of glorious plants and flowers replete with showers of various coloured tropical butterflies. ✤