Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES & ADDICTS - NOVEMBER 2012, 3 by weed_woman

weed_woman wrote:
Hello all, sorry I was AWOL. Got alot to catch up on.
Wendy, sorry to hear Maxs prognosis. I hope his final weeks/months are happy ones with you.
Re your Blood Lilies, I repotted mine when they were dormant, about 2 months ago, and they have all flowered in the new pots this week. I planted them with a bit of the neck above the soil level, like a hippeastrium.
My back is like Nevs, in that I can sit or stand for quite awhile, but its the standing up, after sitting that I find it hard to straighten up
Nev, your seedlings from that long winded Billbergia cross sound like they have a huge mix of genes in there. I'm betting with so much Domingos Martins, they will look alot like the so-named cultivar.
The Blood Lily bulbs will grow in the same climate as Hippeastriums. Can you grow them down your way? The botanical name is Scadoxus. I have both the one that flowers first, then foliage
after, and the foliage first and flower after, which doesn't like being repotted, and didn't flower this year.
As for the tissue culture plants, alot of deformities appear after they have been grown on in commercial nurseries, and the growers spray hormone sprays to induce flowering. Sometimes the plants are a bit small, or have already initiated flowering, and the hormones confuse them. Often, this doesn't pass on to the offspring. Jen, did your mutant Guzmania ever throw more mutants? I suspected it wouldn't as it looked like it had begun to flower, then reverted to producing foliage. I'd be interested to know.
Anyway, like I said, limited time for chatting. It is my husbands 50th birthdy tody, and I am spending plenty of time with him and out three grown daughters (who are all having nanny naps after a big lunch)
Photo one, Neos in the garden
Photo two, looking through the garden
Photo three Alcantarea extensa
photo four, a late flowering Billbergia 'Hallelujah'

hello to Ian, Trish, Shirley and anyone looking in.
have a great weekend
Sue