Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR EVERYONE IN 2014, 2 by bromishy

bromishy wrote:
Hi Everyone!

Apologies in advance as this is going to be a long post as I have missed a couple of days and am playing catch-up from Dec’ and new Jan’ thread.

I have finally finished dead-leafing, de-pupping and cleaning all my Neo’s, Aechmeas, Nids’ and Bills’ in the 2 x large shade sail curtain garden beds. This just now leaves a few other garden beds to do where most of my pups live which is on top of the whole length of our retaining wall. I reckon there would be a good couple of hundred pups there, either pups I have brought or pups that have been taken off my broms, There are also broms situated under the avocado tree, mango tree, lemon tree, ginger and heliconia garden and one raised garden bed and then I am done I think, a good couple of weeks work and I will have them all done. At least cleaning pups will be a lot easier than cleaning fully grown broms. I have about 50 or so broms in the “Brom Retirement Village” and they are more than happy sitting under the Golden Cane Palm and I noticed they are all pupping very well; at least two or three pups per mother plant, some pups only have the roots left to suckle off but still look very happy and healthy.

I cleaned and weeded the nursery floor today and cut back shrubs and it looks pretty good in there now. Joe got a nice surprise when he got home from work.

Yesterday was partly spent sowing brom seeds and watering seedlings and then I spent the rest of the day indoors and lapped up the air-conditioning and it was so nice getting out of the heat for a bit. I also put together a document reflecting broms I currently have for sale as I have had many people ask for a list of what I have for sale but have not had a chance to do so till now over my holidays and it will be great to sell a little here and there so the money can go towards bromeliad supplies as I have pretty much chewed through most of what I had these past couple of weeks. I have already had some interest which is great. So far only about a 7 page doc that reflects Name, Picture, Price and Approx. Size. If anyone from this forum wants to see my list please send me a DMail and provide me with your personal email address and I can email you a copy.

Nev thanks Joe and I had a nice peaceful and quiet NY Eve and managed to not get “sloshed” on the Mango Champagne as I did not want to wake up with a hangover or headache, anything with bubbles gives me a headache if I don’t drink enough water in between, that’s the key. I hope that you and Ailsa also had a lovely NY Eve together, say a BIG HI to Ailsa for us.

Nev I spoke to my Mum today and she is keen for me to post her some more seeds to sow, I advised her she will need a bigger place soon with the amount of things she is trying to grow’ she definitely has the brom bug (like mother like daughter) he he.

Nev you are too right when you say reading books is a good sedative, I tried reading a couple of pages today when I came in to have a spell from the heat, with a good cup of tea in hand and a couple of pages into the chapter the book woke me up when it hit me in the head and I got that startled I spilt my tea all over me and the floor he he..

Nev one of the things I used to do before broms took over my life was to draw pictures with Indian ink and I used to also frame my own work. I became very interested in working with Indian ink way back in high school where I just would constantly draw with it although I also did really enjoy painting with oils but always went back to ink. My father was against my creative side and even when I saved up enough money to buy my own set of ink pens he forbid me to draw or paint as he wanted me to concentrate on my studies and said a living could not be made from drawing. Anyway in the end my art teacher kindly lent me his set of ink pens because he saw I was excelling with each drawing that I did and that I had a passion from drawing. Anyway I hid my pens from dad and would draw late at night when everyone had gone to sleep or early before I went to school each day. Anyway in the end dad caught me drawing and went to rip up the drawing I was working on and was blown away with the detail and not long after surprised me for my 16th birthday when he brought me my first set of ink pens, the exact same set my teacher had kindly lent me. I ended up drawing and painting a lot and sold my artwork through various galleries’ in Victoria as well as the Gallery on Hamilton Island where my artwork when sold got posted to different parts of the world. I have not drawn for a good couple of years since I got my glasses but plan to take it up again at some stage as I really miss it. I was mainly into drawing wildlife and like you I had a thing for old cottages and shacks in the out back and would often sketch them, or take photos of them and then go home and draw them. They were a great seller back then too and I pretty much sold everyone I did but kept a few that I did way back in my early years that Joe did not want me to sell. The money I made from selling my artwork was great and I probably could have given up work for some time but I did not want to rely on just that as like with everything there are always quiet times when things just don’t sell and then all of a sudden you get slammed for orders. The most expensive drawing I sold was just under 10K, it was a massive ink drawing of two Manta Ray’s swimming merrily in the sea and was a big job to frame and took me eight months to draw.

Nev Joe’s Orchid Paphiopedilum was produced from the two orchids that Bree kindly provided names and pictures of last month.

Nev those Pics of Peter Coyle’s Vrieseas are gorgeous; I could not pic a favourite as all of them are beautiful and full of life and colour.

Nev I so adore that picture of “Clyde”, what a beautiful boy he was and I can imagine he never left your side and was such a wonderful companion. Dogs have always meant so much to Joe and I and they are truly a big part of our family and are more welcome in our house then a lot of people we know.

Nev your broms look fantastic after the clean-up although your broms always look lovely in all the pics you share with us. Nev beautiful pictures you posted of the variations in Neo’ ‘Camelot’, all great looking plants and that pic of your Guzmania wittmackii in flower is stunning.

Hi Jean thanks for starting the new thread for the New Year, very kind of you to do so. I really liked the pics of your Kahala Midnight and Midnight, very pretty looking plants they both are.

Jean I spoke to my mum yesterday and she was putting off going outside to prune tip her roses because she said it was windy and cold outside and she did not want to catch a cold so instead she just read her bromeliad books and watched the tennis she had taped and thought about her broms outside and what she would like to work on next, like we all have a habit of doing he he.

Jean pleased to hear you liked Joe’s orchid, it was perfect timing that the flower opened right on Joe’s birthday, so he got to admire where I had it sitting on the coffee table that day.

Hi Bree nice orchid pics, thanks for provided the names and pics as it saved me asking Joe who has that stuff catalogued in a big orchid document he has that I don’t bother going into as it’s all about broms with me as much as I think orchids are beautiful he he.

Hi Colleen fantastic to see you back and great to hear you are feeling much better. Sounds like you are going to be very busy re-potting and removing pups off your broms. Remember to tackle it in small bursts and use a trolley to move then around where you can as this will really save your back heaps. I have just spent over a week working on a huge amount of my broms and thankfully my back did not give me any grief because of the way I set myself up and the trolley helped heaps.

Hi Cody Happy New Year to you and Alex. Also great to see you chatting with everyone about broms and sharing a pic of your Guz’ that looks like the pups are doing very well. So when are you going shopping for more broms as the one you have seems happy but it needs friends he he.

Hi Shirley thanks for the belated birthday wishes for Joe. We did have a great drive on the Saturday and jam packed as much as we could in our day and came how with some lovely treats.

Shirley fantastic to hear that Michael is feeling much better, all that work needing to be done around the place sounds daunting, so best he tackles it in small bursts and does not overdo it, especially in this heat as it really knocks you around.

Shirley we really enjoyed taking toys and blankets to the RSPCA and I took some more in over my holiday although I was sad to see so many of them in cages like that and wished I could have brought them all home.

Shirley I adored the pic of your “Alarm Clock” that appears to be smiling for the camera. Our little pooches wake us up at 5am most mornings and then after we have taken them for either a walk or a swim they crawl back into their bed and we are left wide awake but lacking sleep. Sometimes Lexi our sausage dog pulls the sheet covers off us and barks to wake us up, it is so funny to watch how frustrated she gets and they we normally scare her by yelling BOO when she least expects it and then she jumps on us and attacks us both playing.

Shirley what great pics especially Pic 2 Neo. ‘Apricot Nectar’ and Pic 3 Neo. ‘Hearts Music x Grace Darling’, both are beautiful looking broms.

Hi Teresa your so right about how the light falls in different parts of the garden, I really noticed same being home these past couple of weeks and it gave me a chance to adjust where I had certain bromeliads situated so either they could get more light or to protect them better. Wow Teresa $30 a brom sounds way too expensive, I wonder what type they were for that price?

Hi Ian your newly potted up seedling look fantastic, so neat and organised, definitely going potty as you say he he.

Check out all of the lovely pics of the seedling that Nev had sent me that are all growing big and strong. Sorry the light was a bit bright when I took the pictures: Nev I am so pleased with how they are all doing, I will post more pics next time. Some need repotting already.

Take Care and Happy Gardening!

Trish