Australian and New Zealand Gardening: OUR BROMELIADS INTO 2015.. , 2 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – Looks a bit like rain here this morning, overcast and quite warm outside, so I guess it’s back into the garage to work today. The Brom Society is having a trial “Sale Day” next Saturday as a way of promoting brom’s and getting people interested in them. As well as plant sales, we will have the usual things we have at our shows such as plant raffle, pot sales, Lucky Dip, Advice Table and hopefully this may also attract a few new members to our society. There is a lot of new development in the area now and as very few places are selling brom’s,hopefully we will get a good response.

Jean – The birds have become a big part of our lives here and it’s becoming a real little sanctuary, unfortunately there’s also a stray cat that’s starting to visit as well so I’ll have to see if I can get a trap to catch him and take him to the pound. He’s continually knocking over pots, but it’s the worry about him hunting the bird life that’s the real bother.

Your mention of some of your bulbs starting to show buds reminded me that the lily bulb you gave me a couple of years back (I forget the name now) grew to about eighteen inches the first year but no flower. Last year it grew much taller and had a nice bud on it until my daughter came over with her dog who decided he had to run right through that particular part of the garden and snap it off, so now the waiting game is on again.

Your mention of the pups on your Hallelujah getting very large, prompts me to suggest that you don’t remove them but let it grow into a clump instead. I think Bill’s are at their best when growing in a clump and although not all lend themselves to this sort of culture, Hallelujah is one that does, and in a clump it looks magnificent.

I hadn’t heard of a snake called a “gwarder” until you mentioned it and a search of the internet revealed that it is also known as the Western Brown Snake. While searching I also found these other statistics you may find interesting.

Since 1980 there have been 49 deaths (31 involving brown snakes) Australia-wide attributed to snakes (most recent Australian deaths – 60 yr male March 2013 Sth Bellingen, NSW - believed bitten by Stephens' Banded Snake, succumbing 7 days after bite; 26 yr male April 2013 Darwin, NT - bitten while handling "brown" snake prior to running; and 59 yr female November 2013 Raymond Terrace, NSW - believed bitten in garden. A timely reminder to say out of their way and don’t threaten them.

Teresa – Thanks for mentioning there is a bird watcher’s forum on DG, but I already visit two other Bromeliad Forums beside this one and I just don’t have the time to visit any more as I much prefer to be outside trying to keep up with my brom. jobs.

True most marble is usually white or sometimes pale shades of grey, but I think the term marbling when applied to brom’s is used more to describe the pattern on the foliage rather than the colour. The original marble throated type to be seen was Marble Throat which was bred from the seed parent Neo. chlorosticta 1978. From this, Marble Snow was produced in 1986 and since then there have been eleven others registered and many, many more which aren't. I like them personally and suggest they are worthy of addition to any collection because they are just that little bit different to the norm.

That’s it for today and a few random pic’s to finish with.

All the best, Nev.