Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS IN SUMMER ..2014, 2 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – Please excuse any errors as I ‘m retraining myself to type with two hands again now that my left hand has greatly improved and is much better than I had expected.

I’ve had a pretty good past few days, on Friday a box of plants arrived, (three swaps from another “Brom Friend”), but unexpectedly it also contained about a dozen pups from mini Neo’s and only one of them do I already have. The lady that sent them said she had plenty and had just put them in as “packing”.....how about that.

Yesterday, my courier lady came to the door again with another box for me, and this time it was from another “Brom Friend”, (the chap who bred my Billbergia ‘Stephen Stone”). In the box were 12 beautiful pups from some more of his hybrids. It felt like “Santa” had come to me early...........Isn’t it great to have good Queensland “Brom Friends”.

Today I had a very good lesson of what not to do when gardening with brom’s. A couple of years back I had a surplus of Bill.‘rosea’which I had grown from seed. I gave dozens away to friends and put some in the “Freebies” box at a couple of brom meetings. Finally after keeping one for myself, I found what I thought was an adult plant in a neglected state in a pot which someone had given to me.

Desperate for space, I just “plonked” it in the front garden in amongst a lot of Neo and Vriesea culls. This morning when getting the paper from out the front, I noticed something pink in the garden, and there was this plant with three beautiful big inflorescences, so large they were touching the ground.

What a waste I thought; that plant has to be elevated or even mounted in a tree to display its beauty. Looking at it more closely, I’m not even sure now that it is rosea as there are two or three of these types which all look similar when not in flower so further investigation is required. I’ll take some pic’s over the next couple of days and post them when I get my computer back.

Teresa – Yes ‘Wild Rabbit’ is wild as are many of the others Chester has bred with the same parents. It seems they are just another range of colours this very skilled hybridiser has introduced into the bromeliad world.

I’m surprised you don’t have Microsoft Publisher on your computer as I know it’s on my old dinosaur, and I’ve just looked and it’s even on this old second hand computer even though it’s the old Microsoft Office 2007 version. I’ve never used that programme myself but I know they use it for the Light Rail Museum News Letter. Pity you don’t live handy as you could do your homework on my computer. What subject are you studying?

Diane – How are things going with your injury? I hope it’s healing as well as mine and we’ll soon be hearing from you again.

Shirley – Like many of the tips I pass on to other people, the one about “parking” pups in damp Coco-Peat when circumstances don’t allow you to be able to pot them up normally was just something I found out by accident. A word of warning though, don’t leave them too long before you pot them up or you’ll find the roots all through the Coco-Peat and when you lift one out, everything else will come out with it.

It seems like you’re copping a really dry spell up your way and from what you say, your whole garden would benefit from a good drink of “Seasol”.

There’s no mad rush to send the parcel, just as long as you get it away before the mad Christmas rush starts clogging up the mail system.

Like you we only buy presents for our grand kids as well as about twenty or so “surrogate grand kids” we seem to have gathered over the years. We’ve helped a few families of close friends who were going through rocky patches in their marriages over the years and to all of their kids we became known as Aunty Ailsa and Uncle Nev (even the ones who have grown up, married and now have kids of their own still call us this). We in turn call them all, our collective surrogate grand kids.

I’m glad I don’t have to bother about putting up toppers over my brom’s down here as I just wouldn’t be able to manage a chore as large as that every year. I know your weather produces beautiful coloured plants but like everything else, there is also a downside. I don’t have to worry about toppers, but then neither can I get my brom’s as colourful as yours, so I guess it all comes out even in the end.

As for taking “brom pic’s”, I’m the first to admit I’m no photographer, but I’ve always found that early morning or very late afternoon are the best times for me as the plants look better at these times and the colours are more easily captured on camera.

Trish – Seems like what you and Joe achieved over the weekend would have taken me a month to do. Tell us more about this water tractor as I’m always interested in things that can save my old legs a bit. I will always water my shade house brom’s by hand, but what a great time saver on the gardens this could be, and this would give me more time with the main collection of brom’s.

You say about the glossy leaves on your NOID in the previous thread; this is something not all Neo’s have, and it can be a very attractive feature as well as a very handy observation when trying to ID a plant. Many growers will water their plants before they take pictures and I agree, this makes the plants look great, (just like a shower of rain will). However it also hides whether the plant has glossy leaves or not, and this can be an important clue when identifying a plant.

As for mounting plants on trees, the two most important things to remember are, they must be tied on securely so they don’t move otherwise they won’t produce roots. The other thing is to not to forget to water them whilst they are becoming established, it can easily be overlooked and watering is very important during the root establishing phase as well.

That first picture I posted on the 21st was Neo. ‘Ashanti’ and was a pup I got from Sue a couple of years back. I like the unusual colour combination myself, and it seems to be a favourite with everyone who sees it as I have orders for several pups, even though I still don’t have a spare for myself as it’s very shy when it comes to “pupping”.

It’s good to see you spreading the word at the markets, who knows, you may even get a few new members here on D.G.

That’s a great looking group of Vrieseas in your pic’s, they’re beautiful plants but I’m afraid that due to space restrictions here, it got down to either Vrieseas or Neo’s and as Neo’s are my all time favourites, they won, so the Vrieseas I have are now few.

Here’s a few more Neo’s from the memory stick to finish with, 1. Meyendorffii, 2. cruenta (Broad leaf), 3. Marble Snow, 4. Garnish and 5. Gold Fever Select.

All the best, Nev