Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR MARCH ....2014, 3 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – It's good to see a few more of the regulars posting once again.

A big “Get Well Soon” to anyone on the sick list, and a special “Hello” to Jean who is still caring for her sick hubby and I hope things are going well for you.

We had a very severe storm here last night and I've never seen rain like it in my life. The gutters on the roof were over flowing and at one stage it was so heavy the water overflowed from the rear of the gutters into the eaves and there was water dripping out of the external light fitting. So it looks like today is assessment time and my first job will be to remove all of the down pipes and see if maybe they are blocked up as I haven't been able to climb the ladder and clean out the gutters for some time now and it's a job I used to do regularly. I'll have to try and work out the cause quickly as they've forecast a lot more heavy rain for the coming days and I don't want a repeat of last night.

I don't know if it's caused any damage among the brom's as it's still dark as I write this, but I guess I'll find out soon enough. But to look at the positive side, they all will have had their “cups” washed out.

Wendy – Sorry to hear about your “hiccup” with the camper-van fridge and not being able to get a site beneath a tree, but then is it wise to camp beneath a tree? We were always told it was a definite No No. and knowing my luck, if it was me beneath the tree, a branch would probably drop on me. Anyway you got the consultation prize of a level slab to compensate somewhat and that should make things a bit more comfortable anyway.

You just can't stay away from brom's can you? Even when you go on a holiday you're still swapping; anyway I pleased to hear that Bill 'Fruit Salad' is starting to be spread around. This is one of the great advantages of swapping I think, because if anything happens to your plant, you know where you may be able to get another pup, so all is not lost.

Trish – It's interesting that you say the grass hoppers are making a mess of your Vrieseas; it seems to me that they seem to take a liking to a particular type of plant and attack that more than any other. A friend of mine who also had Vrieseas was having grass hopper trouble as well, but they weren't attacking his Vrieseas, they were attacking some half grown Ae. blanchetiana seedlings instead. I know they seem to go for the soft leaves so it was probably because the seedling still had soft new growth which attracted them to the Aechmeas instead of the Vrieseas. At that particular time I has a surplus of young blanchetiana seedlings that I was going to dump so I gave them to him to feed the grass hoppers on so they wouldn't attack his other brom's, This made it easier for him to catch them as he knew where they would be when he went out with the hose of a morning, so you see, there's even a use for unwanted culls.

More nice pic's you've posted again and I'm particularly drawn to the one in your third picture as I too am very interested in Neo's with yellowish tones. As for the name, Neo. 'Jinx', I think this could be incorrect as Neo.'Jinx' was an Alan Freeman cross between Neo. 'Fairy Tale' and concentrica made in the mid 90's and doesn't seem to have any yellow colouring in it like yours. I have a friend who has this plant which he got from “Bromagic” a few years back and even grown in good light it's till predominantly mid green with darker maroon markings. How large is your plant? The plant my friend has is reasonably large plant about 18” in diameter and this ties in with the info on the BCR about it.

The colour could be due to high light intensity, as light can do some unusual things, but somehow I don't think this I the case with your plant. Having said all of that, I still find it a very attractive plant both colour and shape wise and would ask if you could please put my name on your list for a spare pup if and when you get one.

Ian – I'm pleased you had such a successful day at Townsville, it made the long trip all worthwhile.

I've looked on the BCR to see what I could read about Aechmea 'Karla' but find it isn't registered; but judging by the prices being asked it is probably just a newly released hybrid. Do you know any more about it?

It is an attractive looking plant if you like that sort of thing but to put everything in perspective I don't thinks it's worth the sort of money they're asking for it. I mean the bloke next door to me bought a reasonable second car for work for $1500 with 12 months rego. which is less than the $1875.00 the brom went for; and you can't drive a brom to work.

Did you get to see Rob Smythe and his collection while you were there? I did drop him a line and tell him you were going to Townsville and that I'd mentioned to you to try and fit in a visit and he said he would be glad to see you.

The Cryptanthus Ruby is a beautiful looking little plant and it's just a pity I've never had any luck growing them, but I don't seem to be alone as these seem to be plants that some growers excel at growing and others have no luck at all, and I'm one of the unlucky ones.

The plant in your last pic has some nice colour; do you have a name? It's something like the result you'd expect if you crossed Neo.'Charm' with Neo.' Gold Fever'.

Well that will do me for today and I'll post some old Bill. pic's just for a change. Pic.1 Bill. 'Medowie Gift' x (Unknown), Pic.2 Bill pyramidalis x 'Windigig Special', Pic's 3, 4 and 5 all from the same cross Bill. 'Fred Red' x 'Hallelujah' with Pic 5 recently registered as Bill.'Stephen Stone'.

All the best, Nev.