Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES AND ADDICTS - JULY 2014, 2 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – Just a very brief visit here today, as the spare room where my computer lives is currently being used as a bedroom for our family and as I usually start my computer work at about 4.30am I don't think it would go down very well so I just have to grab the time whenever I can.

I'm still trying to digest what's in all the posts since my last full post on the 6th and have just a few comments here and there.

Shirley – They're really nice pic's you've posted once again. I really like the colours of the plant in the first picture but I'm sure it isn't Neo.'Black Onyx'.

John Catlan bred Neo.'Black Onyx' from Neo.'Silverado' as the seed parent and an unknown pollen parent. It's a medium sized plant with a lime coloured centre and and unusual chocolaty coloured outer half of the leaves. I have seen it once only, but it did look just like the one in the picture on the BCR
See: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=3199#3199

As I said before, they're all really nice pictures, and Neo.'Royal Cordovan' can hold its own in any company, but I've never seen a Neo.'Manoa Beauty' anywhere before that was better than the one you posted, the colour and shape are exquisite; congratulations.

Teresa – It seems the applicant they are after for the job needs to be a “people person” and someone that can talk to people rather that at them. It's refreshing to hear that they will contact all applicants and not just the successful one; if that's an example of the way they treat people they should be a good company to work for, so fingers crossed that you're the successful one.

Trish - Certainly some unusual colour combinations of the plants you have posted today. I'd never heard of Neo 'Dirty Gerty' and initially though that just has to be a “pet name”; and then I looked up the BCR and found it is a registered hybrid made by Margaret Patterson with the seed parent being Neo.'Nelson' and as this has very dark foliage we can only guess who the pollen parent was.

The one that interests me the most though is the Neo. concentrica x 'Heart Music' (no “s” on heart) as I did the reverse of this cross, Neo. 'Heart Music' x concentrica.

As I look at the pic's of your plant and one of my cross it's very clear that what Jack Koning said about the seed parent influencing the size and shape and the pollen parent influencing the colour, was “spot on” and is obvious in both crosses. I can see similarities of Neo.'Heart Music' in your plant See: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=4848#4848
and similarities of Neo. concentrica in mine (See my Pic.2)

Colleen – Boy, what a coincidence – when we were kids we always made our bows out of willow as well; seems we have a lot in common, doesn't it?

That's a nice pic. of the Bill. flower, which Bill is it?

Teresa – I had a bit of a chuckle to myself when you said about taking the enormous dog back and putting him in the yard and shutting the gate. What if it wasn't his house and when the owner of the house came home the dog wouldn't let him in the gate.....sorry, just my warped sense of humour.

I'll finish today with just two pictures, Pic.1 is my Neo 'Heart Music' and Pic.2 is one of my better Neo. 'Heart Music' x concentrica hybrids.

All the best, Nev.