Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES & ADDICTS MARCH 2012, 2 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone,

Dawn – Yes that is a lot of Crypts, did you count them?

Wow! that inflorescence on the Till is massive for the size of the plant and your Kiwi Cream is looking good after re-potting. I didn’t have any luck with my Kiwi Cream, it put up this little “maggoty” looking little flower spike and then all the leaves started to die. The remains of the plant now has a reasonable looking pup so maybe that will do something in the future. I have been told that it’s a plant that must have room to grow and good air circulation around it, so maybe mine was a bit cramped and that’s why it didn’t do well.

Kristi – I’m not sure about the Crypt plants and I noticed that myself. Maybe they were immature plants when they were being mounted and the pic’s of the finished product were taken some time later. I can’t ask Chanin because of the language difficulties between us so we’ll just have to dream, although I think that’s a pretty common Crypt in Thailand as it seems to be growing in abundance in every pic I ever see of brom’s in Thailand.

I like your Dyckia flower; I don’t have any Dyckias myself, but from what I’ve seen of the few growing here locally, they all seem to have bright yellow or orange coloured flowers and do certainly add a splash of brightness to a group of plants.

Wendy – I thought you and Johnny would enjoy the “heart” and appreciate the amount of work that went into it as I know you did something similar mounting mini Neo’s on a fibre ball a while back although not quite as large.

Everything I’ve ever read about Cryptanthus has said that they must be treated as terrestrials and never mounted, so maybe it’s just the Thai climate that allows them to get away with mounting them there, but I don’t know if we would have the same success here. Maybe it would be a good project for you and Johnny to trial?

Those Bat Plants are certainly fascinating; do they grow from a bulb? I would love to have a couple but I was told a while back that our winter climate here wouldn’t agree with them and I’d be wasting my time.

I think the little pot figures are great and would certainly make a good saleable gift. Maybe you can employ your grand children and make Johnny the "Foreman of the Assembly Line." I’m glad you got your plants OK and I hope you like them.

I’ll finish with a few more of Chanin’s pic’s; No.1. is Chanin himself helping to set up the Annual Thai Bromeliad Show. 2, 3, 4, and 5, are again of the bromeliad section of the Noong Nooch Tropical Gardens of Thailand. No. 2. Shows how brom's can successfully be used with water to create a nice effect, No.3 Shows a nice combination of Guzmanias, vrieseas and Aechmea Fasciata, No.4. Shows just how effective a massed display of the common Aechmea Fasciata can look surrounding a nice potted variegated palm and No. 5 Shows a "wall" of neoregelias leading to the main entrance; truly "eye catching".


All the best, Nev.