The term “Extreme gardening”, was first used about my work by the AGE news paper in Melbourne in 2015 when we installed Tillandias on top of Eureka Tower at level 92. Some Tillandsia species can with-stand strong salt winds. At Easter 2018, and in another EXTREME GARDENING event - I got to put a Tillandsia to a through an acid test ( salt test) by taking one air-mat surfing. It had actually taken a full year to organize all the conditions, good surf on an over cast day when I was at the beach and had a GOPRO on hand.
Air Matts
From 1965 when I first began surfing, I had air mats, which are inflatable surfing craft. I rode air mats in NZ and then in Hawaii 1973-4 with Chris Brock who had become a fan of them via George Greenough. I continued to ride them on and off in New Zealand for decades. More recently I have returned to ride them exclusively. The low body position gives a heightened sense of speed and the new high Greenough high performance designs are brilliant.
The salt test
So, in another episode of EXTRENE GARDENING there was a fusion of air plant and air mat at a break called Eagles Nest near Inverloch, Victoria, Australia. The plant was mounted on a surf helmet to test for salt resilience. Another surfer asked me if the idea was to keep the "seagulls off my head". The plant not only survived the surf experience but flowered exactly a year later.
