Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads for novices & addicts, October 2012, 3 by weed_woman

weed_woman wrote:
Good morning everyone.
Sorry i have been AWOL again. Without boring you all to tears, lets just say it was a weekend I'd rather forget.
We've had some nice rain here over the weekend, and its all fresh and green. There was supposed to be some bad weather, but it looks as though it passed over, as there is no sign of damage here.
Shirley, I like your idea of adding the text to the picture, and a good way to get lurkers to open the pics for a better look.
Ian, thanks for the tips on mossie control and the ingredients for the scale remedy. I had a look at photo two, (is that your noid) and thought I could see some resemblance to either Aechmea bromelifolia, or A. purpureorosea, but not enough to really be definite, because A. purpureorosea (here) has very dark green leaves, and bromelifolia (here) has plain green leaves, whereas I thought I could determine a few spots on the foliage of yours, and it looks to be bronzy-pink?
Nev, Neo. 'Phylis' is a standout in your pics. I notice the concentrica swirls in alot of Neos, so it must be a great one for hybridising with.
Trish, lots of lovely photos. Without opening the noid one (or I will lose my post) I think it looks a little like N. 'Lucky Break'?
Wendy, I do hope Max improves somewhat. I have yet to go through 'old dog' experiences, as mine are 6 and 8, and In the past, my dogs have either found new homes, or died prematurely (that sounds like I'm not a good dog owner, but fate plays funny games)
Anyway, I bought a new Aechmea on the weekend, and the french woman who sold it to me almost talked my ears off, and i almost walked away without it! I'll give her points for enthusiasm, but her sales technique was terrible. I didn't get a word in, to at least tell her i wasn't a complete novice, and instead got the whole speil about bromeliads, how many species there were, where to situate them and an individual breakdown of all the plants she had for sale (none of them labelled, and she didn't know names) It was tiring, and I was only interested in the one I was holding. Anyway, I will include a pic and am sure someone will know it, right away. Its photo one (in front of Neo. 'Skotaks tiger')
Photo two is a Catlans, A. blanchettiana hybrid called 'Alvin purple' (A. malva on the right)
Photo three is Tillandsia scheideana in flower (originally from you wendy)
And lastly is Dendrobium lindleyi (A LeisaD inheritance)
Sue