Inside an Ontario home that's packed to the brim with air plants

Houseplanted is a bi-weekly series where folks with extraordinary houseplant collections invite us inside their homes for a tour of their verdant spaces and to share tips and inspiration for keeping nature alive inside. 

Meet Dave Lin, an air plant aficionado based in Scarborough, Ont. Dave has packed over 1,000 houseplants into his cosy townhouse, including the many Tillandsias that he cares for, grows and sells air plants through his online business, Dave's Air Plant Corner. In this episode of Houseplanted, Dave gives us a crash course in these curious plants and shares insider tips on how to give them the most optimal care. 

Check out the video, then scroll down to learn more about Dave and his plant collection.

​​This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Tell us about your home.

I live in a townhouse in a quiet, friendly neighbourhood in Scarborough, Ont.. I've been living here since 2021.

How many plants are in your collection and how long have you been at it?

I have over 1,000 plants at home most of the time — a large part of that being air plants for my online shop. In my own collection, the plant count is probably around 150 to 200.

Can you share your very first plant, your most recent addition, and your all-time favourite?

My first plant was a succulent that I got from IKEA in 2014: an Echeveria pulidonis. It has beautiful red edges and fleshy leaves; it's a plant that I often go back to and still love. 

The most recent addition would be a large cebu blue Pothos (Epipremnum pinnatum 'Cebu Blue') growing on a moss pole. It is gorgeous and I hope I can keep it happy! 

It's hard to choose, but my all-time favourite air plant would probably have to be the Tillandsia tectorum, also known as the snowball air plant. The fuzzy white appearance truly sets it apart from others.

Explain your overall relationship to your plant collection.

My plants have become an essential part of my life. They teach me to be more patient and diligent, and they've pushed me to become more organized and on top of things. At the beginning of collecting plants, and specifically air plants, I found myself doing a lot of research on care instructions as well as the history and biology of the plants. I never thought I'd be interested in that sort of information before. Overall, plants have just given me a sense of purpose that is very different from other aspects of my life.

Describe the emotional connection you have with your plants. How do they make you feel?

Plants make me feel happy and alive. I've learned that to nurture my plants, I must learn how to nurture myself, and that has been very eye-opening.

What advice would you give to someone looking to start their own houseplant collection?

Get to know the plants well before you buy them, including their general care and how they naturally grow in the wild. Then, assess the growing conditions you can provide in your home, including light, watering, humidity, soil, and airflow, to decide if bringing such a plant home will bring good vibes for you or if it might stress you out instead. Of course, sometimes we really don't know until we try, so it's totally fine to experiment and try out different plants.

What's the most important rule or practice you follow when caring for your plants?

Follow a schedule and be diligent. At the same time, be cautious and observe the plants themselves to notice signs of needing to be watered, trimmed or repotted.

Have you developed any unconventional methods or techniques for growing and nurturing your plants?

Air plants are very different from other houseplants, especially when it comes to growing them indoors in Canadian climates, so I definitely had to come up with a special method to keep them all happy. I soak my entire air plant collection and plants for the shop in a bathtub once a week for two to four hours, then dry them on top of towels with a fan running to prevent rot and fungal issues.

Where do you see your plant collection heading in the future? Are there any specific goals or aspirations you have for it?

Currently, I have way too many plants! I started my collection with succulents back in 2014, then soon discovered air plants, and when the pandemic hit, the houseplant craze definitely got me into more tropical and foliage plants as well. So right now, my goal is to narrow down my collection a little bit and make sure all the plants I own are well taken care of and happily living in the right spots of the house.