Australian and New Zealand Gardening: SPRING AMONG OUR BROMELIADS..., 3 by perke_patch

perke_patch wrote:
Hi everyone.
Medallion..... well we've had medallion for so long (probably one of the first ones we got when we started) that we now just think "oh that's just medallion". In fact I let a pot go on the weekend with 2 full sized full coloured ones go for $8. it didn't last long. I'm sure we would have lots of them around the yard so if I come across one I'll yell out. Same with two tone. We've had that one so long we've probably got it dotted around the yard and I'll give a yell if I come across a couple.
I've got so many new pics to upload and I forget to bring the camera in or if I do I forget to put the SD card in the media reader to download them. then there's the naming of the file and then the naming on the pic before uploading.
Nev I agree with the upgrading of software. surely they can improve a software program without completely changing it. It's often like a whole new program instead of just an upgraded version of the same one. I know when I got a new computer I hated vista and I deleted it and uploaded the XP version. Not sure how hard it was to do but I did it once.
It was lovely having Shirley and Michael here on Friday. we had everything set up on Thursday with the plan of taking it easy on Friday to prepare for our big weekend of selling. But of course Johnny stresses out that the yard isn't clean enough for people to come in. so as soon as Shirley left he was out with the blower blowing everything in site onto the lawn. Then even though it had been mowed he did it again to pick up what he'd blown onto it. Easier on the back than raking. Then it was time for his nurse to arrive to administer his treatment. He's supposed to rest up after the treatment but of course he went back downstairs and worked on in the yard till after dark and I called him in for tea. We had such a big week getting ready for the sale that we both fell into bed early to wake up early ready for our first customer. and it didn't take long before they started arriving one after another. Boy we are getting so popular We keep one spare table for empty boxes so people can put their selections into them so no bending to pick up full trays of plants off the ground. as soon as we can we empty the next table too. Well mid to late morning when we had 2 empty tables under the house and had boxes laid out ready a lady starts grabbing plants and filling boxes. she had every box on one table full of plants and was starting on the next table. She picked up one of the special plants and Johnny said to her "that one will not be an $8 one it will be more" and she said "I don't care about prices. I just like what I see". Well she ended up with 8 trays of plants and didnt' bat an eyelid when they worked out the price. When she walked back up the road to bring her car down to the driveway we were not surprised to see it was a Mercedes. Nice to have so much money price doesn't matter hey. anyway it was a very good weekend but we were so exhausted each night we just bought tea and had a relaxing bath and fell into bed. I'm battling to keep the eyes open now.
Nev hope the fires and especially the smoke clears for you soon and anyone else in the bushfire areas. A friend in Childers had fire all around them this morning too. He has a collection of old tractors and machinery including a vintage fire engine at his place and he said they all worked for their keep today making fire breaks and then keeping the break wet so the fire didn't cross. He said he kept the fire out of his property though and the rural fire brigade eventually got the fire out. we are not even suffering from smoke here.
we've had little showers of rain but nothing to jump up and down about. In fact while I was watering seedlings this morning and Johnny was hand watering down the back the tank ran dry and we had to quickly flick it off. So I've ordered a truck load of water which should come tomorrow so the way our luck goes we should get rain tomorrow night everyone. fingers crossed we do. the ground needs a good soaking. Our lawn is still green and parts of our footpath are even green still. we tend to flick the switch and send the back and washing machine water into a wheelie bin which we then wheel out and tip on the lawn. This is enough to keep it green in dry periods.
Ian that shadehouse looked to be a really good sized one but looks like the shelves were just not up to the number of seedlings you had growing. hope you get them all sorted out. I'm glad to see someone else grows their seedlings on trays of water. I also use those same trays as well as meat trays, Tupperware trays, cut down foam boxes, in fact anything that will hold that little trickle of water just to keep them damp but not too wet. works for me. you had some nice seedlings in the pics you posted on fb. hope you work out which was which and don't end up with too many NOIDs.
That's it, I can't keep the eyes open now so I'll sign off but first some pics.
Pic 1 is a mini fireball x medallion
Pic 2 is a really good medallion we grew a few years back. unfortunately it never flowered or pupped just kept on and on getting taller and taller. not sure whatever happened to it. I know in the end it looked so tall and gaudy it was probably shoved down the back somewhere.
Pic 3 is two different clones of neo don hobbs we had. I add this because I looked at a pot with a couple of beautiful full grown colourful plants last week and when I checked the name it was a pot of don hobbs. the colour was amazing in a bit of morning sun. I should have got a pic and maybe I did but I haven't uploaded yet.

That will do for tonight. I'll try to get the pics uploaded early tomorrow evening and post a few then.
Night all. I'm yawning so much my eyes are crying all over the keyboard here and I can hardly hold my head up. YAWN
Wendy