Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads For Novices and Addicts - October 2014, 2 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – It looks like a beautiful day here today after a pretty ordinary one yesterday which finished up with very noisy storms with lots of lightning and thunder but little rain.

Diane – It’s great to see you posting again and I hope you continue to do so as we may be few in number but there is still a lot of knowledge to be passed on from us. If we don’t know the answers we can probably point you to a site that will have the answers.

While I’m on the subject of sites, there are two in particular which all brom growers consider as the “Bromeliad Bibles” they are firstly, the Florida Council of Bromeliad Societies http://www.fcbs.org/pictures.htm As well as being a wealth of information, this site has a comprehensive photo index of bromeliad hybrids as well as the best photo index of bromeliad species to be found anywhere.

The other site which is the frequented by brom growers worldwide is the Bromeliad Cultivar Register (BCR) which is a Photo Index of all hybrids which have been registered with the Bromeliad Society International (BSI) which can probably best be described as the “Mother Society for international brom growers” and whose purpose is described as “To promote and maintain public and scientific interest in the research, development, preservation, and distribution of bromeliads, both natural and hybrid, throughout the world”.

The BCR can be accessed at http://registry.bsi.org/ and the BSI at http://www.bsi.org/new/

The plant in your first two pictures is an Aechmea, possibly either Ae. correia-araujoi, Ae. orlandiana or one of its hybrids, Ae. ‘Bert’ being the most common. These plants all have similar leaf patterns but the colour varies as they mature which often makes it difficult to identify particular varieties. They like strong light to bring out the best colour and some say full sun, which I am always reluctant to suggest because in the case of a heat wave, damage will occur.

Your next two plants are both Neoregelias but it’s impossible for me to give a definite variety as there are just so many similar coloured plants around. Judging by what you say about the plant in Pic.4, (I have dozens of these), there is a chance it could be Neo compacta or a Neo compacta hybrid. If this is the case, when grown against a tree or fence it will somehow find a way to climb it and can become quite rampant. Some time back I posted a pic of Neo. compacta growing up a very large tree and I’ll see if I can find it and post it again in a day or two.

Finally, I’m pleased you had a good outcome from your back surgery as it doesn’t always happen that way. I too had surgery against the recommendation of my GP. It was a last resort after trying everything from chiropractic and acupuncture to spinal injections but the pain just got so debilitating I couldn’t do very much at all and couldn’t stand it any longer. Now I have reduced pain, but no feeling in either of my legs below the knees (they just feel like heavy weights). I don’t know what’s worse, the back pain or feeling my way and watching where I put my foot everywhere I walk. I was once told that for every “plus” there is also a “minus” and I guess I got both. However I’m still on the right side of the grass and there’s others much worse off than I.

Trish – I guess the term “looking for a needle in a haystack” could describe searching for the identity of a NOID when comparing it to photographs. It’s not just a simple matter of matching one photo to another, as rarely in photographs is the plant size given, furthermore the stage of development isn’t given either and this as you know has a dramatic effect on the shape and colour of the plant.

I can’t tell you how tall the Bromelias grow as there are many different types but I guess that if they are used to keep cattle enclosed in a paddock they must be pretty large.

Trish I planted my Desert Roses in a very coarse open mix which Tash recommended, but it wasn’t the mix, it was the very cold wet winter nights that wiped mine out, of that I’m sure.

I think the plant you are talking about was (Pic.2) and after the picture of lilliputiana and if so it’s Neo ‘Royal Cordovan’ in my opinion, one of the nicest shaped Neo’s around. The other one is a hybrid of mine from a crossing of Neo. concentrica x (‘Charm’ x ‘Cracker Jack’).

That was a good idea to post some different types of brom’s for Diane to see the differences, now why didn’t I think of that?

Jean – Nice to hear from you again and get a progress report on your new garden.

You say,” Sadly, no more big garden”, but by the same token that also means less work, and it’s surprising just how many plants you can fit into a small garden, you’ll be surprised.

Jean, I have a nice lemon coloured Clivea and if you would like a bulb just let me know and I’ll get one off to you.

I guess it’s time to go again and today I’ll leave you with a few pic’s of my different Ae. recurvatas.

All the best, Nev