Australian and New Zealand Gardening: OUR BROMELIADS INTO 2015.. , 3 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – Wow what a busy past few days, firstly the brom sale on the Saturday and by the time it was finished I had had enough, everything was aching from standing around and sitting on those horrible moulded plastic chairs that my back doctor says should all be banned, then loading up all the plants that weren’t sold to bring home again.

By the time I got home and unloaded my lot all I wanted to do was sit in my lounge chair with a cup of coffee and put my feet up, I was buggered. I hadn’t done anything really physical as my job was just to answer questions that “newbies” asked but I was knocked up all the same; must be getting old; Ha! Ha!

The sale went well and it was good to see Brian and be able to have a bit of a chat.

I sold a little over half the plants I took up (about $600) worth so it was a worthwhile exercise and certainly worth having again next year I think, but next time with better advertising and more in advance. I spent Sunday and yesterday putting plants back on benches and generally tidying up the garage which looked like bomb had hit it after a week of plant preparation there. Today I intend to just check over my collection and sort out what needs to be re-potted next and get my work programme back on track.

Teresa – I thought it would be too cold for shorts and tee shirts in N.Z at this time of the year, but then you're younger and tougher than me and can handle the cooler weather better.

La Tigra is another from the Ae. nudicaulis family and is similar in size to Aechme nudicaulis var. aequalis and Aechmea nudicaulis 'Costa Rica' all of which like to grow in strong light to bring out the lovely banding on the foliage.

Neo. ‘Blake Street Beauty’ is one of the “radial reds” as they are called. It originally came from Queensland and was registered in around 2003 and is a red-striated sport produced by Neo. ‘Manoa Beauty’. It is one of those plants which is just as nice viewed from below as above and I’m posting an overhead view (Pic.1)

Brian - I see you got a nice selection of plants all of which will benefit from growing under good light except the Vr. Gutatta which I find likes it a little on the shadier side. It is a Vriesea species which comes from Brazil and mine grows under 50% green shade cloth but on the southern side (the shady side) of the house.

It’s a plant which will pup quickly and make up into a nice specimen in no time and I think from memory it’s just about due to be re-potted (have a look at the back of the name tag that should tell you the story). That was originally a pup from the plant which the Spotted Honey Eaters decided to build a nest in a few years back. The hen laid just two eggs (which seems the norm) and raised two young. Since then they have become regular visitors and are quite tame, nesting in the same shade house and raising a family each year. They even fly into the garage and sit on the shelves whistling occasionally as they watch while I re-pot plants. (See Pic’s 2-5)

Just a word of warning about Vr. gutatta though, the grasshoppers love to eat the flower spikes, so when they appear, keep a good watch out for these nuisances or take the plant inside where it’s safe.

They were all good selections you bought and I’m surprised to see the little flower spike on Bill. ‘Party Pink’ survived OK. When I was packing those plants I was wondering if the little flower spike would survive as these plants were being transported by other people and were handled many times by different people before they actually got onto the sales table. Apparently although it looks quite fragile, the little inflorescence is more resilient than it looks. Having said all of that though, that plant is grown for its foliage colour and not the flowers which like all Bill’s, are short lived anyway.

Jean – You say you are living near a plantation area; I imagine it’s a timber plantation and was wondering whether it’s Pine or Hardwood. Whatever it is, just watch out for those semi-trailers when you’re on the road as a lot of them tend to think they are “King of the Road”and give way to no one.

Yes Jean, the sale day did go reasonably well and the upside has to be the extra bench space I’ve created. While having a quick look around yesterday I noticed a dozen or more good quality plants all needing to have pups removed, and now I can do them as I have somewhere to put them.

I haven’t forgotten about your list, and as it’s now just starting to rain again it looks like today may be a good day to do it for you.

Although I’m familiar with it, Ae. ‘La Tigra’ is a plant I don’t have but from what I’ve seen, it’s similar to the others of that size and loves bright light and being grown “tough” to maximize foliage colour.

Neo ‘Satsuma’ is a nice smallish brom. which looks good when grown in a basket. I got a pup from Sue a few years back and it’s growing very well and pups quickly. It’s the colour that fascinates me as it seems to change with the different light intensities and seems to range from a mid-mauve to a dark mauve which seems to “glow” late in the afternoon. (At least mine does and I hadn’t even had a drink either).

Ae. ‘Aztec Gold’ was developed by John Catlan of Queensland from a sport of Ae. recurvata; interestingly, as recorded, “A phenomenon of this plant is that all pups appear as plain yellow, but as the leaves develop a green stripe appears which uniformly improves and the plant turns into a vigorous grower for a variegate". It has a fascinating history which can be found via the link below which I recommend you all should read as it’s a very interesting story about how this lovely plant came to be. This too is a plant which will benefit greatly from being grown in very strong light.
See: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=AECHMEA&id=32#32

Finally, I think we're overdue for a new thread so if one of you good people who have the skills could oblige, it would be appreciated.

That’s about it for today so now a few pic’s to finish with, firstly Neo. ‘Blake Street Beauty’ (taken from above), Pic.2 the nest of the Spotted Honey Eater, Pic.3, Mum on the nest, Pic.4 a close up of Mum so you can see her easier and Pic.5, Bub’s first day out of the nest; “Look Mum I can fly”.

All the best, Nev.